CLdM.lt 


Plate  I. — Proportions  of  the  diverse  segments  of  the  body  compared 
to  height    (=   100)   at  the  ages  of  evolution. 


GROWTH   DURING 
SCHOOL     AGE 

ITS   APPLICATION  TO  EDUCATION 

BY 

PAUL  GODIN,  M.  D. 

Laureate  of  the  Institute  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine 

and  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  Professor 

in  the  School  of  the  Science  of  Education  (Rousseau 

Institute)  of  Geneva 

TRANSLATED    BY 

SAMUEL  L.  EBY 

Sometime  Instructor  of  Psychology,  A.  E.  F.  University, 

Beaune  (Cote  d'Or),  France 

Superintendent-elect,  Niles  (Ohio)  City  Schools 


BOSTON 
RICHARD  G.  BADGER 

THE   GORHAM    PRESS 


Copyright,  1920,  by  Richard  G.  Badger 


All  Rights  Reserved 


•  •    •  •«  «  •    f 
•   •     •  •    •    •  • 


* .  • 


• «      >   •  • 


Made  in  the  United  States  of  America 


The  Gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.  S.  A. 


"  .  .  .  Ce  qui  fait  Vinterit,  pour  Vinstituteur,  des  phe- 
nomenes  de  croissance  physique,  c'est  qu'Us  ont  une  repercussion 
sur  les  fonctions  psychiques  et  sur  Venergie  du  travail 
mental.     ..." 

ED.  CLAPAREDE, 

{Psychologie  de  V enfant,  4me  edit.,  p.  155) 


3  tw  ,s^  a»  O  X 


1    ' 


•  ■  - 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

THIS  translation  of  Doctor  Godin's  La  croissance  pen- 
dant Vdge  scolaire  is  presented  to  American  students  of 
education  for  the  purpose,  first,  of  introducing  the  writings 
of  a  Frenchman  who  has  long  been  a  student  of  scientific  edu- 
cation. Nearly  forty  years  ago  the  author  began  the  study 
of  education.  He  has  written  much  and  many  of  his  works 
have  won  recognition  from  the  highest  scientific  societies  in 
France.  The  author  merits  a  wider  circle  of  acquaintances 
in  the  United  States  of  America  than  he  has  apparently 
enjoyed  up  to  the  present  time.  A  second  purpose  is  to 
direct  greater  attention  to  the  contributions  to  the  theory 
and  practice  of  education  in  France.  The  translator  in- 
clines to  the  thought  that  American  educators  have  tended 
too  much  to  neglect  French  educational  practice  in  the 
stud}7  of  education.  A  more  careful  study  of  the  work  of 
the  French  along  the  line  of  scientific  education  will  prove 
fruitful  to  American  teachers  and  educators. 

In  itself  this  work  of  Doctor  Godin  should  prove  very 
valuable,  first,  for  its  scientific  method.  Within  the  last 
decade  or  two  more  emphasis  has  been  placed  on  collect- 
ing statistics  on  physical  growth  and  development  of  adoles- 
cents. Much  of  this  work  has  yielded  no  valuable  scientific 
results.  Many  figures  and  much  data  have  been  gathered 
but  the  method  of  collecting  them  has  been  such  that  the 
conclusions  based  upon  them  are  frequently  unreliable  or 
unwarranted.  This  is  especially  true  in  respect  of  measure- 
ments of  physical  growth  of  adolescents.     Measuring  a  large 

5 


•     I     •    •  -  «    # 

•  .  .  '  •    •  •• 


r       * 

6  Tr'lMijlatGr's  Preface 

group  of  twelve-year-olds  or  fourteen-year-olds  and  then 
determining  medians  or  averages  of  weights  and  heights 
bears  no  fruitful  results,  if,  as  has  very  frequently  been  the 
case,  the  measurement  is  made  once  for  all.  It  may  mean 
something  or  it  may  mean  nothing  to  compare  the  meas- 
urements of  a  particular  individual  with  the  medians  of  a 
large  group.  Whatever  it  may  mean,  it  gives  no  signifi- 
cant assistance  in  the  method  of  educational  direction ;  it 
gives  no  insight  into  the  disposition  and  nature  of  the  par- 
ticular individual  whom  the  teacher  is  trying  to  educate. 
The  only  physical  measurements  worth  while  are  those  which 
admit  of  comparisons  with  previous  states  of  development 
of  the  same  individual.  Such  comparisons  can  be  valid 
only  when  repeated  measurements  are  taken  at  regular  in- 
tervals. These  repeated  measurements  are  necessary  in  or- 
der to  enable  the  teacher  and  educator  to  know  the  child  in- 
timately and  profoundly ;  it  makes  possible  a  degree  of  in- 
dividualization of  education  unknown  in  the  past.  In  its 
final  analysis  successful  direction  of  education  depends 
largely  upon  its  individualization.  It  is  along  this  line  that 
every  child — the  supernormal,  the  normal,  and  the  subnor- 
mal— will  be  enabled  to  realize  his  whole  self.  The  work 
here  presented  is  an  example  of  the  method  of  the  individu- 
alization of  educational  practice. 

The  value  of  educational  measurements  is  summed  up  in 
a  recent  publication.1  Doctor  Godin's  work  is  a  model  of 
scientific  procedure  in  educational  measurements  and  avoids 
precisely  the  errors  pointed  out  by  that  writer.  It  points 
the  way  which  educators  must  follow  if  these  failures  and 

a/ 

errors  are  to  be  avoided  and  corrected. 

In  the  second  place,  the  work  is  a  valuable  contribution 
to  our  knowledge  of  adolescence.     Of  the  many  books  on 

1  Strayer  and   Norsworthy:    "How  to   Teach,"  p.   155f. 


Translator's  Preface  7 

adolescence,  this  is  one  of  the  highest  scientific  value.  The 
laws  of  growth  have  been  determined  experimentally  in  a 
truly  scientific  manner.  Adolescence  has  been  very  care- 
fully and  accurately  defined.  Every  teacher  who  knows 
these  laws  of  growth  and  comprehends  the  meaning  of 
adolescence  and  its  bearing  on  education  of  the  individual 
as  set  forth  in  Doctor  Godin's  careful  study  will  be  equipped 
to  deal  more  effectively  with  the  individual  under  his  charge. 

The  second  part  of  the  work  is  a  discussion  of  the  prac- 
tical application  to  schoolroom  practice  of  laws  and  princi- 
ples of  the  first  part.  It  gives  us  the  viewpoint  of  ad- 
vanced educational  practice  in  France.  In  the  last  chap- 
ter is  found  what  the  author  regards  as  one  of  the  most 
important  features  of  the  book,  namely,  the  "individual  for- 
mula." This  is  the  first  form  of  expression  of  the  formula. 
The  author  himself  has  pointed  out  that  the  formula  as  it 
stands  here  is  open  to  the  criticism  that  the  value  of  the 
result  of  the  formula  bears  an  inverse  relation  to  the  age  of 
the  individual.  He  suggests  inverting  the  fraction,  thus 
making  the  magnitude  of  the  results  bear  a  direct  relation 
to  increase  of  age  of  the  individual.  The  author  had 
planned  to  restate  the  formula  to  obviate  this  criticism. 
The  Great  War  unfortunately  compelled  him  to  defer  this 
correction  indefinitely.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  will  be 
able  to  perfect  the  "individual  formula"  and  present  it  in  a 
definitive  form. 

The  translator  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  numerous 
persons  for  valuable  help  and  criticisms.  Much  of  the  merit 
of  the  translation  is  due  to  the  assistance  of  these  persons. 
They  are  not  responsible  for  any  of  the  faults  or  defects 
found  therein.  Acknowledgment  is  especially  due  to  Mrs. 
Emma  Rower  Cory,  A.M.,  formerly  instructor  in  English, 
Ohio  State  Universitv,  sometime  instructor  in  French,  War- 


8  Translator's  Preface 

ren  (Ohio)  High  School;  to  Superintendent  Alfred  H. 
Meese,  A.B.,  B.Sc.  in  Ed.,  Shaker  Heights,  Ohio.  The 
glossary  was  prepared  by  Miss  Ida  L  Eby,  B.S.,  M.D. 

S.  L.  Eby 
Kent,  Ohio, 

September  1,  1919. 


FOREWORD 

1TAKE  genuine  pleasure,  students,  teachers  and  educa- 
tors, in  dedicating  to  you  this  work  which  springs  en- 
tirely from  continuous  observation  of  the  child  and  which 
brings  together  the  lessons  that  you  have  followed. 

The  lively  attention  which  you  have  accorded  me,  dis- 
suades me  from  every  formality  except  that  which  has  held 
your  kindly  interest. 

You  desire  the  child  to  be  your  unique  teacher  according 
to  the  luminous  motto  of  the  School  of  the  Science  of  Edu- 
cation, Discat  a  puero  magister!  and  you  have  felt  that  I 
was  simply  trying  to  be  the  interpreter  of  the  child.  For  it 
is,  indeed,  the  child  who  by  his  individual  growth  affords  us 
a  deep  insight  into  the  secrets  of  his  life,  and  teaches  us  a 
marvelous  lesson  of  things,  in  inviting  us  to  discover  the 
unity  which  presides  over  his  manifold  transformations  and 
which  is  his  very  person. 

If  you  know  a  good  deal  of  his  physical  individuality,  you 
also  know  a  good  deal  of  his  cerebral  function  which  is 
caused  in  a  large  measure  by  the  condition  of  the  brain  and 
by  its  relations  with  the  rest  of  the  body. 

You  rendered  homage  to  the  enlightening  power  of  the 
study  of  growth,  when  in  course  of  a  lesson  which  caused 
you  to  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  the  child,  you  said  to  me  in 
a  transport  which  I  can  never  forget :  "How  intimately  you 
know  him,  indeed!" 

When  in  turning  the  leaves  of  this  book  your  eyes  fall  on 

9 


10  Foreword 

the  expressions:  "We  see,  we  infer  .  .  .  ,"  imagine  that  we 
are  still  working  together  at  the  Rousseau  Institute.  You 
are  present  at  every  page. 

Paul  Godin 
June  1,  1913. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
ANALYSIS  OF  GROWTH 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Reasons  Why  Growth  Has  a  Place  Among  the 
Subjects  Taught  in  a  School  of  the  Science 
of  Education 21 

School  age  is  above  all  an  age  of  growth. — Growth  has 
a  double  influence  on  the  cerebral  function. — New  instruc- 
tion; upon  what  it  is  based. — Outline  of  the  data  which  the 
study  of  growth  can  furnish. — Its  termination  is  the  deter- 
mination of  the  somatic  individuality  of  the  child. 

II.     Method  of  Study  of  Growth  or  the  Auxano- 

logical  Method 31 

Methods  not  to  follow. — Worthlessness  of  isolated  mea- 
surements.— Measurement  of  stature  becomes  useful  as  soon 
as  it  is  introduced. — Rhythm  of  lengthening  of  the  body. — 
What  is  adolescence? — The  great  post-foetal  lengthening  of 
the  body  by  the  lower  limbs  takes  place  between  birth  and 
the  age  of  seven  years,  and  not  at  the  time  of  puberty. — 
The  method  to  follow  is  that  which  the  nature  of  the  phe- 
nomena and  the  utilitarian  objective  of  the  results  of  obser- 
vation dictate. 

III.  Metrical  Proportions  of  the  Body  of  the 

Child  from  Birth  to  Adult  Age     ....       39 

The  proportions  of  the  human  body  and  the  artists  of 
Egypt,  of  Greece,  of  Rome,  of  the  Middle  Ages;  contem- 
porary artists. — Anthropometric  canon  of  the  child  at  dif- 
ferent ages. — Influence  of  growth  on  the  variations  of  the 
proportions  of  the  body. — Partial  proportions. — Impor- 
tance of  functional  correlations. 

IV.  Influences  Which  Act  upon  Growth      ...       53 

Influences  which  act  upon  stature. — Influence  of  food,  of 
sex,  of  race,  of  heredity,  of  season,  of  gestation,  of  exercise. — 
Reciprocal  relation  of  illness  and  growth, — Influence  of 
function  of  reproduction. 

11 


12  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

V.     Puberty — Influence    of    the    Reproductive 

Element  on  Growth 66 

Determination  of  the  dawn  of  puberty. — Some  causes  of 
error. — Most  favorable  season  for  the  dawn  of  puberty. — 
Almost  the  whole  of  puberal  phenomena  escapes  him  who 
does  not  repeat  semiannually  his  observations  on  the  same 
subject. — What  is  puberty?     Definition. 

VI.     Puberty  (Continued) 76 

Analysis  of  puberty  by  means  of  the  phenomena  of  growth 
which  it  determines. — Augmented  growth,  reduced  or 
arrested  growth,  total  growth  or  appearance  of  organs,  dis- 
appearance of  organs,  involutions. — Embryogenic  function 
of  puberty. 

VII.     Puberty  (Continued) 85 

Influence  of  alimentation  by  the  placenta. — Precocious 
puberty;   delayed   puberty. — Some  somatic  conditions   of 
psychological    puberty — an    example.  —  Separation    of    pu- 
bescents  from  non-pubescents. 

VIII.     Puberty  (Continued) 94 

Duration  of  period  of  puberty;  signs  of  d6but,  signs  of 
termination. — Internubilo-pubescent  period  or  youth. — 
Distance  from  puberty  to  nubility  or  adult  state. — Some 
educational  considerations  touching  these  periods. — Syn- 
thesis of  the  relations  of  \.he  reproductive  element  and 
growth:  phases  of  life  in  function  of  reproduction. — In- 
fluence on  growth  of  the  traumatic  suppression  of  the  ger- 
men. 

IX.     Some  Laws  of  Growth 104 

Laws  and  method. — Make-up  of  the  laws  of  growth. — 
Law  of  alternation. — Laws  of  puberty. — Laws  of  propor- 
tion.— Principle  of  irregular  puberal  growth. — R6sum€  and 
formulas  of  the  laws  of  growth. 

PART  II 
APPLICATIONS  TO  EDUCATION  AND  PEDAGOGY 

I.  Unequal  Growth  in  the  Scholar.  Organic 
Troubles  Which  Provoke  It  and  of  Which 
the  Teacher  and  Educator  Have  to  Take 
Account 123 

Of  what  unequal  growth  consists. — Interest  of  education 
in  the  troubles  which  it  determines. — Examples  of  puberal 
troubles  due  to  unequal  growth.— Pedagogical  consequences 
of  these  troubles. 


Contents  13 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

II.     Growth  by  Great  Alternations.     What  the 

Educator  and  Teacher  Can  Infer  From  It  .     138 

Alternate  rhythm  of  growth  for  the  spinal  column  and  for 
the  cranium. — Alternations  in  the  development,  of  the  ger- 
men. — Relative  independence  of  the  evolution  of  growth  to 
great  alternations. — Relation  between  thera  and  with 
puberty. — Pedagogical  and  educational  deductions. 

III.  Various  Pedagogical  Applications  ....     142 

Pubescents  and  non-pubescents. — Their  somatic  and  psy- 
chical differences.  Pedagogical  deductions. — "Educative 
moment"  of  each  organ. — Deference  of  the  law  of  alterna- 
tion.— Growth  and  intelligence. — Position  of  scholar  in 
school-room — necessity  of  varying  it. 

IV.  Individualization  of  School  Furniture     .      .     152 

It  is  seated  and  not  standing  that  the  scholar  makes  use  Q.f 
it. — Error  resulting  from  the  measure  of  the  scholar's  height 
standing  taken  as  guide  in  assigning  of  seat. — Height  stand- 
ing and  height  sitting. — Anatomical  and  physiological  con- 
ditions which  must  govern  the  choice  of  individual  furni- 
ture.— Simple  means  of  conforming  to  it. — Working  Manual. 

V. .  Control    of    Physical    Education    by    the 

AUXANOLOGICAL  METHOD 161 

Account  to  be  taken  of  growth. — Checking  of  the  effects 
of  exercise  with  the  fixed  bar  on  the  development  of  stature, 
of  the  chest,  of  the  pelvis,  of  the  limbs. — Gymnasts  and 
non-gymnasts. — Various  causes  of  abstention. — Conclu- 
sions relative  to  the  results  of  exercise  aimed  at  and  to  the 
method  of  checking. 

VI.  m  Asymmetry  and  Education 180 

Half  of  the  body. — Variation  of  the  length  of  the  sternum 
and  rickets. — The  shoulders  of  the  child. — Asymmetry  of 
the  human  body;  those  things  which  it  is  necessary  to  know 
by  reason  of  their  educative  interest. — Probable  part  taken 
by  the  brain  in  functional  asymmetries. — Bimanual  educa- 
tion (ambidexterity). 

VII.       AUXANOLOGICAL  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  SCHOLAR  .        191 

Anatomical  conditions  of  function. — Form  and  skele- 
ton.— Their  modification  by  growth. — Anthropometric 
guiding-marks. 

VIII.     Measurement  of  the  Scholar  in  Accordance 

with  the  "Individual  Record  of  Growth"  .     199 

The  observation  room. — The  anthropometric  instru- 
ments.— Care  in  checking  one's  self. — Working  manual. — 
Heights,  diameters,  circumferences,  contours,  weights. 


14  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IX.     Notations  to  be  Recorded  on  the  Individual 

Record  Card  of  Growth 211 

Physiological  and  clinical  setting  of  the  measurements. — 
The  alternations  of  growth  and  the  semestral  period. — 
Notations  to  be  taken  on  the  child  stripped. — Notations  to 
be  taken  on  the  child  when  dressed,  among  them  color  of 
eyes  and  of  hair. — Temperament. — Relation  of  the  duration 
of  repose  to  the  duration  of  effort. 

X.     Determination    of    "Somatic    Individuality" 

by  the  "Individual  Formula"  of  Growth     .     221 

The  individual  formula  of  growth  and  somatic  indi- 
viduality.— The  individual  formula  aims  at  function. — 
Make-up  of  the  individual  formula.     Its  interpretation. 

Bibliography 229 

Glossary 239 

Index 247 


I 
I 
I 
I 

F 


TABLE  OF  PLATES 

Plate  I.    Proportions  of  the  diverse  segments  of  the  body  compared 

to  height    (=   100)    at   the  ages   of  evolution       .         .     frontispiece 

PAGE 

Plate  II.     The  ages  of  evolution  compared  to  adult  age,  absolute 

growth 248,  249 

Plate  III.  Growth  of  the  diverse  dimensions  of  the  human  body 
(solide  humain)  at  the  ages  at  which  it  doubles,  trebles,  quad- 
ruples   250 

Plate  IV.     Stature   (taille).     Rhythm  of  its  elongation  .        .        .251 

Plate   V.     The   ages   of  evolution    related  to  adult  age.     Relative, 

total,   and   segmental   growth 253 

Plate  VI.  Proportions  of  the  body  at  13y2  years  compared  to  the 

proportions  at  17%  years,  and  at  23y2  years         ....  254 

Plate  VII.    Curves  of  proportional  variations  of  the  guiding-marks 

between  13%  years  and  17%  years 255 

Plate   VIII.     Different  proportions  of  the  body  in  individuals  of 

the  same  age 256 

Plate    IX.      Comparative    schematic    increase    of    G    (germen),    of 

C  (cerveau-brain),  of  V   (soma).     Grand  alternations         .         .  257 

Plate  X.     Semestral  alternation  of  growth  between  13%  years  and 

17%    years 258 

Plate  XI.     Height  erect  A  and  height  seated   B   of  the  same  ten 

boys 259 

Plate  XII.     Check  (controle)  of  the  effects  of  gymnastics  (height, 

perimeter,  weight) 260 

Plate  XIII.  Check  (controle)  of  the  effects  of  gymnastics  (diam- 
eter  and   girth) 261 

Plate  XIV.     Check  (controle)  of  the  effects  of  gymnastics  (height, 

girth,    weight) 262 

Plate  XV.     Guiding-marks  on  the  skeleton   and  on  the  silhouette 

at  various   ages 264,  265 

Plate  XVI.     Guiding-marks  .  Geometric  semi-silhouettes  and  curves 

of    growth 263 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  pages  which  follow  are  not  a  collection  of  num- 
bered records  which  had  been  published  during  the 
twelve  years  preceding.  They  are  a  key  to  the  "individual 
formula,"  a  working  manual  by  reason  of  their  somatic  de- 
termination, and  they  ought  rather  to  be  entitled :  "concern- 
ing growth  as  a  means  of  penetrating  the  physical  individu- 
ality of  the  child,  and  pupil." 

I  have  caused  the  practice  of  the  method  recommended 
to  be  preceded  by  a  statement  of  the  anatomico-physiolog- 
ical  results  which  I  owe  to  it,  namely,  a  scientific  concep- 
tion of  growth,  knowledge  of  the  proportions  of  the  body  at 
the  successive  ages  of  development,  analysis  of  puberty  con- 
sidered as  effect  and  as  cause,  laws  of  individual  growth, 
etc.,  and  some  of  the  principal  practical  applications  to 
which  it  has  led  me. 

For  the  educator  who  understands  how  to  make  an  en- 
lightened choice,  it  is  indispensable  to  know  the  scientific  re- 
sults and  the  practical  application  due  to  the  various  meth- 
ods, and  to  choose  one  of  them  only  after  a  serious  exam- 
ination. 

There  are  two  general  methods  for  the  objective  study 
of  the  post-foetal  morphological  development  of  the  child: 
the  simultaneous  method  and  the  periodic  method.  The  for- 
mer examines  simultaneously,  in  some  manner,  a  greater  or 
lesser  number  of  children  of  all  ages.  Each  child  is  exam- 
ined once  for  all.     The  periodic  method  examines  the  same 

17 


18  Introduction 

child  periodically  throughout  the  successive  phases  of  his 
development. 

The  first  method  furnishes  means  useful  for  general  com- 
parisons between  different  ages,  between  the  two  sexes,  and 
between  races ;  but,  whether  or  not  it  multiplies  the  number 
of  measurements  and  of  notations,  the  individual  evolution 
of  development  remains  none  the  less  entirely  outside  its 
scope  with  all  the  biological  phenomena  which  characterize 
individual  evolution,  and  these  are  precisely  the  phenomena 
which  the  educator  is  interested  in  knowing. 

Since  here  all  derives  from  the  periodic  method,  it  is  con- 
ceived that  investigations  conducted  according  to  the  simul- 
taneous method  have  only  a  limited  documentary  role. 


PART  I 
ANALYSIS  OF  GROWTH 


GROWTH  DURING  SCHOOL  AGE 


CHAPTER  I 

REASONS    WHY    GROWTH    HAS    A    PLACE    AMONG    THE    SUBJECTS 
TAUGHT   IN    A   SCHOOL    OF    THE    SCIENCE    OF    EDUCATION 

School  age  is  above  all  an  age  of  growth. — Growth  has  a 
double  influence  on  the  cerebral  function. — New  in- 
struction; upon  what  it  is  based. — Outline  of  the  data 
which  the  study  of  growth  can  furnish. — Its  termina- 
tion is  the  determination  of  the  somatic  individuality  of 
the  child. 


SCHOOL  age,  according  to  the  studies  pursued,  accord- 
ing to  the  career  aimed  at,  may  stop  on  the  eve  of 
puberty  or  be  prolonged  beyond.  It  can  be  taken  as  be- 
ginning with  the  admission  to  the  college  1  or  from  the  time 
of  entrance  into  the  class  of  the  smallest  children  in  the  ma- 
ternal school  (Vecole  maternelle). 

School  age  is  above  all  an  age  of  growth. — School  age 
extends,  in  reality,  over  the  greater  part  of  the  period  of 
development  which  the  child  has  to  traverse  in  order  to  be- 
come an  adult.  School  life  and  growth  parallel,  and  to  un- 
derstand the  latter  thoroughly,  it  is  of  interest  to  trace  it 
from  birth.     (Cf.  Plates  II,  IV,  IX,  and  XVI.) 

It  is  quite  difficult  to  admit  that  school  life  which  places 

1 A  secondary  school  in  France. — Trl. 

21 


22  Growth  During  School  Age 

the  child  in  such  singularly  artificial  conditions  has  no  in- 
fluence on  the  evolution  of  growth.  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
educator  to  make  that  influence  as  auspicious  as  possible. 
His  first  care  will  be  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  growth  in 
order  to  understand  its  needs  and  to  labor  unceasingly  to 
render  school  life  compatible  with  a  normal  development  of 
the  child  subject  to  the  tortures  of  which  school  life  admits. 

Growth  has  a  twofold  influence  on  cerebral  functions. — 
School  age  is  the  period  of  cerebral  culture.  The  brain  is 
not  an  isolated  organ ;  it  forms  a  part  of  the  organism  of 
which  it  is  a  piece,  from  which  it  receives  nutrition ;  it  cannot 
be  dissociated  from  the  rest  of  the  body  at  any  moment  of 
existence;  it  must  share  the  advantageous  and  disadvan- 
tageous conditions  of  life  of  that  organism.  The  brain  is 
really  under  the  vegetative  dependence  of  the  organism,  al- 
though relatively  independent. 

In  its  special  psychical  functioning,  it  receives  the  data 
from  the  senses,  from  touch  as  from  sight.  The  condition 
of  these  senses  has  an  influence  on  their  acuity,  on  the  pre- 
cision of  the  information  which  they  furnish,  and  it  is  ac- 
cording to  the  information  that  the  brain  estimates  the 
medium,  the  setting  that  it  judges  of  the  opportuneness  of 
acting,  and  effects  the  first  part  of  its  functioning. 

The  senses  are  the  body  itself  of  which  they  reflect  the 
alternatives  of  well-being  and  of  discomfort,  of  good  health 
(euphorie)  or  pain,  alternatives,  which  echo  on  the  senses 
functioning  in  an  inevitable  fashion.  The  first  part  of  the 
psycho-motor  operation  (Manouvrier)  which  is  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  brain,  depends  on  the  state  itself  of  the 
soma,  that  is,  on  everything  in  the  organism,  which  is  not 
the  brain.  The  second  part  of  the  cerebral  operation  bor- 
rows the  instruments  of  which  it  has  need,  from  the  motor 
apparatus  whose  condition  partakes  of  that  of  the  rest  of 


Study  of  Growth  23 

the  body.  How  could  one  picture  a  cerebral  life,  a  psycho- 
motor function  being  realized  without  the  body? 

Among  the  causes  capable  of  influencing  the  states  of  the 
organism,  growth  figures  in  the  first  rank  during  the  whole 
period  of  elaboration  of  the  adult. 

The  term  growth  must  be  understood  as  applicable  to  all 
the  modifications  which  concern  the  dimensions  of  the  diverse 
parts  of  the  body.  It  provokes  continual  changes  in  the  in- 
terior conditions  of  organic  functioning,  which  for  the  rea- 
sons just  given  cannot  fail  to  affect  the  brain  indirectly. 

But  the  brain  is  itself  subject  to  growth,  and  for  that 
reason  it  undergoes  modifications  which  would  be  sufficient 
to  influence  its  functional  activity.  The  brain  is,  therefore, 
tributary  to  growth  in  a  twofold  manner,  and  it  is  neces- 
sary for  anyone  who,  like  the  educator,  studies  its  func- 
tioning, for  anyone  who  desires  especially  to  grasp  the  di- 
rection of  it,  to  be  acquainted  thoroughly  with  the  progress 
of  growth. 

New  instruction;  upon  what  it  is  based. — This  progress 
is  complex  and  embraces  a  whole  evolution.  It  is  present 
sometimes  at  the  appearance  of  organs,  at  transformations, 
at  variations  in  the  dimensions  of  diverse  parts  of  the  body 
and  in  their  reciprocal  relations.  It  discovers  to  the 
methodical  observer  the  mechanism  of  several  phenomena 
of  life  with  their  individual  character.  Growth  merits  in- 
deed a  study  which  admits  of  its  analysis  between  two  syn- 
theses. 

We  are  far  indeed  from  the  three  measurements,  height, 
girth  and  weight,  taken  as  the  expression  of  growth  and 
with  which  the  denomination  of  the  measurement  of  the 
length  of  the  body,  of  the  thickness  of  the  chest  at  a  cer- 
tain point,  and  of  the  ponderal  weight  of  the  mass  of  the 
body    agrees   precisely.     These   are   three   of    the   hundred 


J 


24  Growth  During  School  Age 

twenty-nine  measurements  of  which  the  metric  observation 
of  human  growth  is  comprised,  three  measurements  which 
represent  two  one-hundredths  of  the  work  of  measuring 
only,  to  which  are  added  physiological  and  clinical  observa- 
tions composed  of  approximately  forty-six  notations. 

The  results  which  I  am  presenting  to  you  in  these  talks 
are  based  on  two  thousand  observations,  on  three  hundred 
thousand  measurements.  I  do  not  hesitate,  nevertheless,  to 
ask  you  to  verify  them  and  to  check  them  up  as  often  as 
possible,  when  you  once  have  possession  of  the  processes  of 
investigation  which  form  the  subject  of  a  special  chapter, 
but  which  continually  support  our  lessons  by  the  practical 
conferences  which  reenforce  them. 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  your  acquiring  some  vague  the- 
oretical notions.  You  must  be  prepared  to  repeat  the  ob- 
servations for  yourselves  with  all  the  exactness  of  which  the 
scientific  method  admits,  when  once  the  point  of  departure 
has  been  determined  among  the  countless  obligations  of  lab- 
oratory research  and  when  the  working  manual  has  been 
rendered  useful  by  daily  observation. 

This  reduction  of  the  technique  is  justified  and  valid  only 
in  so  far  as  it  has  been  preceded  by  patient  and  thorough 
investigation  and  as  it  has  thus  received  the  indispensable 
setting  of  notions  and  general  ideas  without  which  there  is 
no  science.  Hence,  you  need,  first  of  all,  to  be  acquainted 
with  results  and  laws,  and  to  grasp  their  applications.  But, 
up  to  the  present  time  these  are  found  in  no  study  of  growth. 
I  shall  endeavor  to  present  to  you  the  results,  the  laws  and 
the  applications  which  twenty  years  of  research  have  en- 
abled me  to  discover. 

Your  direction  of  education  and  your  own  instruction 
will  draw  a  considerable  benefit  from  these  notions  of  growth 
because  they  will  lead  you  to  the  discovery  of  the  physical 


Study  of  Growth  25 

individuality  of  your  pupils.  Along  that  line  you  will  be 
led  to  know  the  ground  of  each  one's  mentality ;  you  will  be 
able  to  adapt  your  work  as  educator  and  teacher  to  the 
person  of  each  child.  You  will  realize  the  most  desirable 
progress  in  education. 

This  is  the  first  time  that  growth  is  taught ;  all  the  mer- 
its of  it  will  accrue  to  the  hardy  innovators  who  have  cre- 
ated the  school  of  the  Science  of  Education,  the  J.  J.  Rous- 
seau Institute,  and  I  pray  them  to  receive  the  expression 
of  my  deepest  gratitude. 

ii 

The  period  of  growth  represents  a  long  phase  of  the 
evolution  of  the  human  body  and  its  life, — one-third  ap- 
proximately. It  corresponds  with  the  moment  of  trans- 
formation, by  parts  and  by  wholes,  profound  and  super- 
ficial, concealed  and  apparent,  of  the  entire  body  and  of  each 
of  its  parts. 

Growth  keeps  up  a  continual  ebullition  of  the  organism 
which  thus  presents  to  the  eye  of  the  privileged  observer 
of  this  biological  phase  the  most  intimate  of  its  phenomena. 
Growth  is  "the  continuous  transformation  which  the  body 
of  a  child  undergoes  in  its  ensemble  and  in  each  of  its  parts 
in  order  to  become  an  adult."  The  term  growth  is  the  syn- 
thetic expression  of  all  the  manifestations  of  development.2 

Of  what  countless  and  precious  notions  do  those  deprive 
themselves  who  limit  growth  to  increase  of  heighth  and  of 
weight  with  or  without  the  addition  of  the  girth  of  the 
chest!  Alas,  the  biological  phenomena  simplified  by  our 
haste  to  scrutinize  them,  often  remain  outside  of  our  ob- 
servation.    This  is  the  case  here. 

The  program  of  the   observation   of   growth  is   outlined 

2  Academie   des   Sciences — my  contribution  of  Nov.   13,   1911. 


26  Growth  During  School  Age 

by  the  very  nature  of  the  phenomena,  and  the  working 
manual,  by  the  systematic  stages  which  the  constitution 
assigns  to  the  phenomena  of  growth.  No  one  can  escape  it, 
unless  he  declares  that  the  object  of  his  study  is  such  or 
such  particular  point  of  development  and  not  growth.  It 
would  further  be  necessary  to  establish  that  the  elements 
so  isolated  by  this  transforming  synthesis  conserve  a  direc- 
tion and  are  susceptible  of  an  exact  interpretation  and  ca- 
pable of  being  turned  to  account.  We  shall  see  later  how 
the  eunuch  can,  according  to  the  three  measurements, 
height,  girth,  and  weight,  be  classed  among  the  best  mili- 
tary recruits.  This  example  is  to  be  retained  and  needs  no 
comment. 

In  no  case  could  the  observation  of  the  individual,  such 
as  I  propose  and  have  proposed  in  my  divers  reports  (1893- 
1905)  for  the  examination  of  the  French  soldier  for  enlist- 
ment, give  place  to  a  like  confusion. 

Nor  is  it  growth,  but  anthropology  with  its  general  and 
some  of  its  particular  views  which  authors  have  felt  con- 
strained to  give  as  the  basis  for  education. 

If  growth  borrows  diverse  processes  from  anthropology, 
it  also  takes  different  methods  from  statistics.  It  is  fur- 
thermore an  anatomical,  physiological  and  clinical  study. 
It  is  by  reason  of  not  having  taken  account  of  that  fact 
that  the  attempts  of  educational  and  pedagogical  anthro- 
pology, in  spite  of  the  worth  and  talent  of  the  authors,  have 
not  succeeded  and  that  nothing  new  or  practically  useful 
has  been  contributed  from  that  side  either  to  pedagogy  or 
to  education.  On  the  contrary  what  a  vast  field  of  useful 
and  fertile  observations  spreads  out  before  the  educator  who 
gives  himself  up  to  the  scientific  investigation  of  growth ! 
What  precision  the  multiple  aspects  of  development  suggest 
to  him  with  regard  to  the  individuality  of  the  child ! 


Study  of  Growth  27 

Outline  of  the  data  which  the  study  of  growth  can  fur- 
nish. Its  termination  is  the  determination  of  the  somatic  in- 
dividuality of  the  child. — The  master,  it  is  certain,  is  in  pos- 
session of  the  substance  of  his  instruction.  He  is  trained  in 
the  best  manner  of  presenting  it ;  he  is  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  medium  in  which  he  is  called  to  teach.  But  does  he 
know  each  of  the  little  plants  which  he  is  going  to  cultivate? 
does  he  know  of  what  kind  they  are?  whether  they  belong 
to  different  species  and  what  those  species  are?  Does  he 
know  above  all  what  culture  is  suited  to  each  of  them,  ex- 
posure, medium,  food,  soil,  etc.?  These  are  some  of  the 
cares  which  constantly  have  first  place  in  the  mind  of  the 
gardener;  does  the  master  have  any  solicitude  for  them? 
Have  the  parents,  before  the  master,  thought  of  it? 

We  see  the  raising  of  cattle,  of  horses,  succeed  only  at  the 
price  of  a  profound  study  of  the  race  and  the  individual 
nature  of  each  of  its  specimens.  Do  we  not  know  that  the 
horse  trainer,  whether  he  be  the  master  of  a  riding-school, 
the  trainer  of  the  horse  savant,  of  the  circus  horse,  whether 
he  have  the  talent  of  Hachet  Souplet  or  the  patience  of  the 
owners  of  Kluge  Hans  of  Berlin  and  later  of  Elberfeld,  and 
even  the  empiric  sagacity  of  a  tamer  like  Bidel  or  Pezon ; 
do  we<  not  know  that  that  educator  of  animals  always  be- 
gins by  studying  the  person  of  his  pupil  and  adopts  the 
processes  of  instruction  and  of  education,  which  he  will  em- 
ploy, only  after  having  adapted  them  to  the  individuality 
of  the  animal? 

The  educator  of  children  will  acquire  more  easily  and 
more  surely  this  science  of  the  child,  this  indispensable 
knowledge  of  each  one  of  his  pupils  if  he  is  enabled  to  begin 
by  making  up  an  "individual"  formula,  a  kind  of  abridged 
synthesis  of  the  somatic  individuality. 

While  studying  the  continual  variations  of  which  the  or- 


28  Growth  During  School  Age 

ganism  is  the  seat  during  the  development  of  the  child,  the 
experienced  educator  will  discern  what  is  stable  and  con- 
stant in  the  person  of  his  pupil.  The  philosopher,  Mr.  P. 
Bovet,  has  said  "a  question  of  education  is  at  once  a  prob- 
lem of  biology,  of  psychology  and  of  sociology."  3 

In  a  general  way,  the  study  of  growth  is  that  of  a  mov- 
ing ground  of  individual  pedagogy.  It  brings  to  the 
teacher  the  following  laws  according  to  which  changes  are 
produced,  and  reveals  to  him  the  relations  in  which  are 
found  mingled,  at  different  moments  of  evolution,  these 
three  factors  of  personality, — the  soma,  the  brain,  and  the 
germen. 

The  following  enumeration  gives  a  general  idea  of  the 
instruction  and  information  which,  for  the  educator,  spring 
from  the  study  of  the  development  of  each  of  his  pupils  and 
of  which  we  shall  consider  only  the  principal  ones  in  these 
lessons : 

Information  concerning  the  state  of  interorganic  equi- 
librium. 

Warning  of  disturbance  of  equilibrium  which  does  not 
accompany  disturbance  of  health. 

Information  concerning  the  cause  of  a  psychic  disturb- 
ance, the  reason  for  which  the  educator  does  not  know. 

Information  concerning  the  phase  of  development  at- 
tained by  each  of  the  principal  factors  of  the  psychological 
field. 

Indication  of  the  "educative  moment,"  of  each  of  the 
psychological  factors,  that  is,  of  the  freest  period  for  the 
organ,  consequently  the  most  favorable  for  its  education. 

3  Conference  held  at  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Society  of  Arts, 
March  14,  1913,  on  the  founding  at  Geneva  of  a  School  of  the  Science  of 
Education,  by  Mr.  Pierre  Bovet,  professor  of  philosophy  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Neuchatel. 


Study  of  Growth  29 

Warning  relative  to  the  proximity  of  the  ages  of  evo- 
lution. 

Determination  of  the  age  of  pubert}7,  that  is,  of  the  dis- 
tance which  still  separates  the  child  from  the  dawn  of  his 
puberty. 

Indications  concerning  the  points  which  the  care  of  the 
preparation  of  the  ages  of  evolution  must  aim  at,  and  con- 
cerning the  opportune  moment  of  that  preparation. 

Information  concerning  the  functional  cause  of  asym- 
metry, of  a  disturbance  of  equilibrium,  of  a  deviation. 

Precise  formulation  by  the  educator  with  an  eye  to  the 
individual  somatic  appropriation  of  the  processes  of  educa- 
tion and  pedagogy. 

Data  permitting  the  checking  up  of  the  results  of  a 
regime,  of  an  educative  and  pedagogical  method,  of  a  proc- 
ess of  physical  culture. 

Data  concerning  the  duration  of  the  periods  of  repose 
necessary  for  recuperation  of  energy  (alternations). 

Indication   of  the   "stuff"   of  which  the  infant   disposes. 

Indication  of  the  point,  organ,  segment,  function  where 
special,  intensive  culture  must  bear  when  it  is  a  question  of 
specializing  the  work,  or  of  correcting  a  wrong  direction  or 
of  remedying  a  short-coming. 

Description  of  the  effects  of  transgression  of  the  phases 
of  repose  (alternation)  in  consequence  of  too  rapid  growth; 
in  consequence  of  infection  or  of  traumatism ;  in  consequence 
of  cerebral  superactivity. 

Notice  of  having  to  prolong  the  periods  of  repose  of 
which  the  educator  disposes. 

Precise  notion  of  the  distance,  often  remote,  at  which 
are  manifested  the  effects  of  a  verified  cause,  for,  the  greater 
part  of  short-comings  which  are  observed  among  young  peo- 


30  Growth  During  School  Age 

pie  of  both  sexes  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty 
years,  are  only  remote  effects  of  faulty  preparation  for 
puberty,  etc.   .   .   . 

Let  us  beware  of  falling  into  the  error  so  frequent  among 
biologists  and  physicians,  which  Bergson  stigmatises, 
namely,  never  treat  in  any  case  "the  living  as  the  inert." 
Let  us  listen  to  that  cry  of  the  great  poet,  the  only  one  who 
since  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  has  understood  infancy. 
"One  does  not  know,  one  does  not  have  the  appearance  of 
knowing  that  infancy  forms  a  part  of  life."  4 

Growth  preserves  us  precisely  from  this  fault;  creative 
cause  of  incessant  transformations,  of  continual  changes, 
it  does  not  at  a  single  moment,  permit  the  biologist,  the 
physician  or  the  educator  to  lose  the  notion  of  mutation, 
the  feeling  of  life  in  the  being  which  forms  the  object  of  his 
observation. 

4  Jean  Aicard,  of  the  French  Academy,  L'dme  d'un  enfant. 


CHAPTER  II 

METHOD    OF    STUDY    OF    GROWTH    OR    AUXANOLOGICAL    METHOD 

Methods  not  to  follow. — Worthies  sue  ss  of  isolated  measure- 
ments.— Measurement  of  stature  becomes  useful  as  soon 
as  it  is  introduced. — Rhythm  of  the  lengthening  of  the 
body. — What  is  adolescence?  The  great  post-foetal 
lengthening  of  the  body  by  the  lower  limbs  takes  place 
between  birth  and  the  age  of  seven  years,  and  not  at  the 
time  of  puberty. — The  method  to  follow  is  that  which 
the  nature  of  the  phenomena  and  the  utilitarian  objec- 
tive of  the  results  of  observation  dictate. 

METHODS  not  to  follow. — The  continued  transforma- 
tion which  growth  bears  along  with  it  in  the  body  of 
children  cannot  be  studied  as  if  it  were  a  fixed  state.  Ob- 
servation needs  to  be  renewed  often  so  as  to  verify  the 
changes  which  have  occurred.  That  implies  a  periodical 
examination  of  the  children,  a  fact  which  is  far  from  having 
been  understood  by  all  the  authors.  The  numerous  neces- 
sary examinations  have  been  reduced  to  a  single  one,  made 
once  for  all. 

The  reductions  have  been  worked  out  on  the  measurements, 
reductions  such  that  of  the  relativelv  few  measurements 
taken  by  Quetelet,  there  has  now  and  then  remained  only 
the  measure  of  height.  The  fact  of  considering  height  as 
the  only  useful  measure  of  length  has  some  very  grave  con- 
sequences.     Simply    reading    the    results    furnished    by    the 

31 


32  Growth  During  School  Age 

working  up  of  measurements  sufficiently  numerous  makes 
the  liability  of  error  perfectly  obvious. 

Height  is,  in  effect,  the  sum  of  the  lengths  of  the  lower 
limbs,  the  trunk,  the  neck,  and  the  skull.  Each  of  these 
parts  has,  functionally,  a  role  different  from  the  others ; 
each  of  these  segments  participates  in  the  total  lengthen- 
ing of  one  part  which  is  peculiar  to  itself  and  differs  from 
that  of  the  segments  situated  above  and  beneath.  We  shall 
even  see  that  a  law  controls  these  differences. 

This  segmental  growth  has  some  correlations  which  are 
more  or  less  changed  as  soon  as  the  said  segment  grows  less 
or  more.  The  relations  which  express  a  certain  number  of 
correlations  change  with  them;  the  interpretations  rela- 
tive to  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  organism  of  the  child 
observed  are  profoundly  different  and  lead  to  some  deduc- 
tions quite  different  in  preventive  hygiene  and  in  education 
and  pedagogy. 

Worthlessness  of  isolated  measurements. — Let  us  recog- 
nize that  all  isolated  measurements  are  worth  nothing;  for, 
even  as  a  solid  (globale),  growth  has  still  to  consider  all  the 
dimensions  of  the  solid  human  body  (Plate  III)  ;  and  fatally 
erroneous,  in  matter  of  development  of  the  body  of  man,  are 
the  interpretations  of  a  measurement  which  represents  only 
one  of  these  dimensions.  The  measurement  of  stature 
teaches  us  that  a  person  is  large  or  small.  That  is  not 
enough.  Weight  does  not  teach  us  much  more  if  it  has 
only  that  of  stature  to  complete  its  total.  For  its  valuation 
is  increased  by  the  presence  of  fat  as  well  as  by  the  density 
of  muscular  tissue  or  that  of  osseous  tissue. 

One  day  there  were  brought  to  me  two  children,  one  a 
boy  of  fourteen  and  his  sister  aged  eleven.  The  mother  was 
greatly  disturbed  by  their  emaciation ;  the  one  had  lost  two 
kilos  and  the  other  one  and  one-half  kilos  in  ten  days.     This 


The  Auxanological  Method  33 

was,  in  fact,  considerable,  because  if  children  of  that  age  do 
not  gain  in  weight  each  day  like  infants  at  the  breast,  they 
must  nevertheless  augment  by  a  sufficiently  regular  and  ap- 
preciable monthly  quantity.  But  these  ten  days  had  been 
spent  in  a  vacation  outing  and  the  reductive  effect  mani- 
fested itself  with  the  two  children  in  equivalent  proportions. 

I  had  these  emaciated  youngsters  placed  in  complete  re- 
pose, with  a  diet  of  a  nature  to  flatter  their  tastes,  two 
short  promenades  each  day,  without  running  or  play,  and, 
providing  my  prescription  were  followed,  I  told  the  mother 
that  ten  days  would  suffice  to  regain  the  lost  kilos. 

The  little  girl  regained  the  kilo  and  a  half  and  several 
hundred  grams  in  addition.  The  boy  did  not  quite  attain 
to  his  two  lost  kilos  but  he  lacked  very  little.  Quite  soon 
they  returned  to  their  habitual  activities. 

Nothing  profound,  nothing  organic  had  been  attacked  in 
those  two  children.  The  change  of  regime  and  of  habit,  the 
strenuous  (haletante)  life  which  those  little  bands  lead  in 
order  not  to  miss  a  train,  in  order  to  have  time  to  visit  this 
or  that  place,  impose  a  certain  superactivity  on  their  econ- 
omy. To  the  food  which  the  regime  of  the  journey,  the  con- 
versations with  their  comrades  or  haste  often  reduces  a  lit- 
tle too  much,  the  little  excursionists  find  themselves  obliged 
to  add  their  reserve.  It  is  this  reserve  which  is  formed  by 
the  interstitial  adipose  tissue. 

There  is  relatively  little  interstitial  fat  at  this  age  and 
you  see  nevertheless  what  variations  of  weight  its  diminu- 
tion alone  can  carry  with  it.  The  oscillations  of  weight 
which  one  is  called  weekly  or  monthly  to  verify  in  children 
who  are  well,  and  even  in  young  people,  are  most  often  at- 
tributable to  fat  alternately  taken  up  and  redeposited  by 
the  economy  which  thus  balances  its  nutrition. 

It  would  also  be  necessary  in  order  to  interpret  the  weigh- 


34*  Growth  During  School  Age 

ing  in  an  accurate  fashion,  to  know  the  relation  between  the 
fattiness  and  the  mass  of  the  body  throughout  the  varia- 
tions of  weight.'  This  is  what  Mailing  Hansen  appears  to 
have  sought,  who  weighed  several  times  a  day  each  of  the 
little  deaf  mutes  of  his  institution.  But  by  reason  of  the 
special  conditions  of  the  life  of  these  poor  children,  the  re- 
sults could  not  be  generally  applied.  Thus  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  value  of  weight  in  the  child  in  the  course  of  his 
growth,  it  happens  that  one  takes  for  an  active  value  what 
is  only  an  obstacle  or  at  the  most,  a  reserve. 

The  measurement  of  stature  becomes  useful  as  soon  as  it 
is  introduced. — Supported  by  other  measurements  in  suf- 
ficient number,  weight  becomes  one  of  the  most  important  in- 
dications. Isolated,  the  two  measurements  of  stature  and 
weight  have  no  useful  signification  capable  of  being  inter- 
preted by  the  educator. 

Perhaps  the  isolated  measurement  of  stature  exposes  it- 
self to  more  notorious  errors  of  interpretation  than  weigh- 
ing if  one  judges  from  the  contradictions  offered  by  the  re- 
sults of  various  authors.  From  that  source  springs  the  un- 
reliability of  judgments  based  on  measurement  of  stature, 
unless  that  measurement  has  been  made  on  the  same  child 
at  some  fixed  epochs,  the  later  checking  up  the  preceding, 
as  Buff  on,  Quetelet,  Carlier,  and  Mailing  Hansen  have  done. 
These  authors  have,  in  this  manner,  introduced  this  meas- 
urement into  the  progress  of  individual  growth  and  have 
thus  caused  to  be  expressed  a  real  evolution  although  too 
comprehensive  to  have  a  clear  meaning. 

Rhythm  of  lengthening  of  the  body. — In  the  midst  of 
analytic  measurements,  that  of  stature  acquires  the  import 
of  a  synthetic  value,  and  it  is  necessary  to  know  its  rhythm. 
(Plate  IV.)  The  schematic  curve  above  shows  that  a  stat- 
ure of  fifty  centimeters  at  birth,  doubles  at  about  the  age 


The  Auxwnological  Method  35 

of  five  years,  a  period  at  which  it  attains  one  meter,  and 
trebles  when  the  child  reaches  his  fifteenth  year.  Although 
it  has  required  only  five  years  in  the  little  child  to  increase 
his  stature  fifty  centimeters,  reckoning  from  the  moment  of 
his  birth,  an  equal  lengthening  requires  afterwards  ten 
years,  from  the  age  of  five  to  fifteen  years,  to  be  realized. 
Before  his  birth,  on  the  contrary,  nine  months  had  sufficed 
to  give  to  the  body  of  the  foetus  the  first  half  meter. 

According  to  the  graph  of  Plate  IV,  beyond  fifteen  years, 
on  the  morrow  of  his  puberty  consequently,  the  child  grows 
a  relatively  insignificant  amount  in  height,  namely,  fifteen 
centimeters  in  five  years,  say,  three  centimeters  a  year, 
while  each  year  between  five  and  fifteen  had  added  to  the 
stature  an  average  increase  of  five  centimeters.  More  ac- 
tive had  been  the  increase  of  height  of  stature  from  birth 
to  the  age  of  five  years,  a  period  during  which  each  year  had 
added  ten  centimeters  to  the  earlier  acquisition.  Before 
birth,  the  interuterine  elongation  is  incomparably  more 
rapid  still.  Monthly,  the  embryo-foetus  lengthens  by  more 
than  five  centimeters ;  that  is,  only  one  month  of  inter- 
uterine life  suffices  to  gain  in  stature  as  much  as  six  months 
of  extra-uterine  life. 

What  is  adolescence? — With  what  period  of  the  child's 
life  does  the  term  adolescence  coincide?  If  we  should  give 
to  the  word  adolescence  its  original  sense,  namely,  period  of 
growth,  "adolescere,"  to  grow,  and  if  we  should  refer  the 
matter  onlv  to  increase  of  stature  in  order  to  determine  the 
time  of  that  period,  we  should  logically  have  to  designate 
under  the  word,  adolescence,  the  whole  span  of  the  child's 
life  without  excluding  from  it  the  period  from  birth  to  five 
years  and  still  less  the  embryo-foetal  or  inter-uterine  phase. 

Usage  is,  in  a  manner,  in  great  contradiction  with  logic, 
and  the  best   thing  would  perhaps   be  to   suppress   a  word 


36  Growth  During  School  Age 

so  completely  turned  aside  from  its  real  sense.  But  it  is 
acknowledged  that  the  term,  adolescence,  is  applicable  to 
the  last  phase  of  childhood,  to  the  peripubescent  phase,  and 
that  it  denotes  especially  the  last  relatively  insignificant 
thrust  of  the  lengthening  of  the  body  by  the  lower  limbs. 
(Plate  III.) 

I  have  employed  the  word,  adolescent,  in  this  sense  in 
describing  "the  adolescent  type  at  different  puberal  ages." 
It  corresponds  to  prepubescent  and  pubescent ;  possibly  one 
could  use  for  its  limits,  the  limits  themselves  of  puberty :  the 
the  child  becomes  adolescent  when  the  first  hairs  appear  on 
the  pubis,  P1,  and  ceases  to  be  adolescent  with  P5  on  be- 
coming a  young  man  ("jeune  homme").  (v.  "Phases  of 
Life,"  p.  103.) 

As  to  stature,  considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
method  to  be  employed  in  the  study  of  growth,  had  it  been 
followed  carefully  from  semerter  to  semester  or  even  from 
month  to  month  what  could  it  not  have  taught  us  concern- 
ing the  conditions  of  its  own  increase,  what  could  it  not  have 
taught  us  concerning  the  advantage  or  disadvantage  which 
its  extension  confers  on  the  organism,  because  it  is  impos- 
sible to  inform  ourselves  whether  the  segments  which  have 
elongated  are  of  vital  or  accessory  parts ;  whether  the 
elongation  has  been  in  the  bust  or  in  the  lower  limbs. 

As  soon  as  measurements  are  judiciously  multiplied;  as 
soon  as  the  increase  of  each  of  the  principal  segments  can 
be  brought  out  by  anthropometric  study,  the  explanations 
of  the  rhvthm  of  increase  of  stature  will  be  found. 

It  is  recognized,  as  the  graph  of  Plate  III  shows,  that 
the  contribution  of  the  trunk  is  quite  superior  to  that  of  the 
pelvic  members  during  two  periods :  before  birth,  next,  after 
puberty ;  whereas  the  lower  limbs  take  in  the  course  of  these 


The  Auxanological  Method  37 

two  periods  only  a  relatively  feeble  part  in  the  increase  of 
stature. 

The  great  post-foetal  lengthening  of  the  body  takes  place 
between  birth  and  the  age  of  seven  years. — On  the  other 
hand,  between  birth  and  the  age  of  seven  years,  the  increase 
of  the  lower  limbs  presents  the  greatest  activity ;  their  length 
doubles  between  birth  and  the  age  of  four  years,  and  three 
more  years  are  sufficient  to  treble  it. 

If,  in  the  superficial  observation  of  the  children  around 
us,  we  note  in  the  fact  of  important  increase  in  the  legs, 
only  that  which  precedes  puberty,  it  is  that  the  child  then 
presents  a  stature  which  approaches  our  own  and  that  our 
own  stature  serves  as  a  standard  of  comparison  in  order  to 
appreciate  the  progress  of  the  child.  In  reality,  the  great 
thrust  of  elongation  in  the  lower  limbs  takes  place  very  ex- 
actly between  birth  and  the  age  of  seven  years,  and  that  in 
a  continuous  fashion  in  the  child  which  presents  a  normal 
constitution. 

From  birth  till  about  two  years  the  increase  affects 
rather  the  framework  of  the  body  because  the  child  deserts 
the  arms  of  the  nurse  who  carried  him  and  moves  about  on 
his  own  legs.  But  from  two  years  to  eight  or  ten,  there  is 
no  guiding-mark  save  for  one  or  another  who  makes  the 
clothes  with  which,  in  disregard  of  the  needs  of  nature  and 
advice  of  Herbert  Spencer,  the  baby  is  tricked  out  as  soon 
as  he  leaves  his  cradle. 

The  method  to  follow  is  that  which  the  nature  of  the  phe- 
nomena and  the  utilitarian  objective  of  the  results  of  ob- 
servation dictate. — We  already  perceive  by  this  example  the 
nature  of  the  information  furnished  by  true  anthropometric 
observation  of  the  child.  We  understand  that  growth  is  a 
thing  other  than  a  linear  development ;  we  foresee  that  each 


38  Growth  During  School  Age 

of  the  many  parts  of  which  the  body  is  composed,  grows 
for  its  own  sake,  aside  from  the  increase  which  each  part 
realizes  in  the  most  advantageous  direction  for  the  entire 
economy,  and  we  conceive  the  interest  which  there  is,  for  the 
educator  as  for  the  physician,  in  knowing  the  variations 
and  the  laws  of  this  partial  development. 

One  is  prepared  to  understand  better  the  real  meaning 
of  the  term  "growth,"  "continuous  transformation  which  a 
child's  body  undergoes  in  its  ensemble  and  in  each  of  its 
parts  in  order  to  become  an  adult,"  which  gives  to  its  study 
a  setting,  at  once  precise,  far-reaching,  and,  what  is  espe- 
cially important  to  us  at  this  moment,  marks  out  clearly 
the  method  to  be  followed  which  we  can  formulate  thus: 
An  individual  periodic  and  poly  metric  method,  if  one  can 
express  by  this  term  the  multiplicity  of  measurements. 

Expressed  otherwise,  half-yearly  examination  of  the  same 
children  from  the  time  when  they  come  into  the  hands  of  the 
educator  and  continued  as  long  as  he  has  them  in  his  charge ; 
an  anthropometric  examination  by  a  number  of  measure- 
ments sufficient  in  kind  that  each  one  will  find  in  the  others 
the  complement  and  support  which  it  needs  in  order  to  con- 
tribute to  the  expression  of  the  anatomical  condition  of  a 
function ;  a  physiological  and  psychological  examination ; 
the  clinical  part  admitting  only  of  the  recording  of  the  re- 
sults of  the  examination  worked  out  according  to  the  same 
method  by  the  physician. 

It  is  to  this  combined  method  of  the  educator  and  of  the 
physician,  an  auxanological  method,  rigorously  employed 
during  long  years,  that  are  due  the  results  which  follow, 
with  their  practical  character.. 


CHAPTER  III 

METRICAL,    PROPORTIONS    OF    THE    BODY    OF     THE     CHILD     FROM 

BIRTH    TO    ADULT    AGE 

The  proportions  of  the  human  body  and  the  artists  of 
Egypt,  of  Greece,  of  Rome,  of  the  Middle  Ages;  con- 
temporary artists. — Anthropometric  canon  of  the 
child  at  different  ages. — Influence  of  growth  on  the 
variations  of  the  proportions  of  the  body. — Partial  pro- 
portions.— Importance  of  functional  correlations. 


THE  proportions  of  the  human  body  and  the  artists  of 
Egypt,  of  Greece,  of  Rome,  of  the  Middle  Ages;  con- 
temporary artists. — In  the  study  of  the  proportions  of  the 
adult,  the  artists  of  every  period  have  taken  for  a  standard 
measure  a  segment  of  the  body;  the  height  was  nineteen 
times  the  length  of  the  middle  finger  in  the  Egyptian  canon, 
which  was  probably  also  the  Greek  canon  (Broca  thought 
so),  though  Polycletus,  a  contemporary  of  Phidias,  does 
not  mention  it  in  his  treatise  on  symmetry,  written  four 
centuries  and  a  half  B.C. 

With  Vitruvius,  the  Romans  found  eight  heads  in  the 
height  of  the  body.  Jean  Cousin,  then  the  anatomists  since 
Andry  and  later  Gerdy  until  Paul  Richer,  the  eminent  pro- 
fessor at  the  School  of  Fine  Arts,  himself  a  great  artist, 
have  followed  their  example. 

However,    with    the    beginning   of   the   fifteenth    century 

39 


40  Growth  During  School  Age 

there  appeared  the  first  attempt  to  employ  a  standard  meas- 
ure taken  from  outside  the  human  body.  L.  B.  Alberti,  in  his 
work  "Delia  Architectura"  recommends  fifty-two  measure- 
ments which  relate  to  the  three  dimensions  of  the  body,  its 
height,  its  breadth,  and  its  thickness.  Alberti  has  recourse 
to  a  sort  of  decimal  system  which  has  for  its  basis  a  con- 
ventional length.  "It  is,  in  short,"  said  Topinard,  "an  es- 
say at  rational  anthropology  and  an  attempt  quite  remark- 
able for  the  time." 

Forty  years  later,  Leonardo  da  Vinci  expresses  the  wish 
that  a  special  study  be  made  of  the  proportions  of  the 
child's  body.  It  seems,  indeed,  that  that  great  artist  was 
the  first  who  understood  that  the  body  of  the  child  was  not 
merely  a  reduction  of  that  of  the  man ;  that  it  had  very  dif- 
ferent proportions  and  presented  for  that  reason  a  spe- 
cial artistic  anatomy. 

Albert  Diirer  essayed  to  realize  the  counsel  of  his  con- 
temporary and  established  the  proportions  according  to* 
age  and  sex,  but  unfortunately  he  abandoned  the  standard 
measure  proposed  by  Alberti.  He  returned,  in  effect,  to 
the  measurement  of  the  body  by  the  measure  of  the  height 
of  the  head,  and  applied  to  the  child  the  Roman  canon,  that 
of  Vitruvius. 

In  order  to  find  the  application  of  the  meter *  to  the 
evaluation  of  the  proportions  of  the  adult  human  body,  it 
is  necessary  to  go  to  the  authoritative  anthropometric  stud- 
ies of  Manouvrier. 

Manouvrier's  pupil,  Papillault,  has  followed  his  method  in 
the  latter's  important  study  of  the  average  man  in  Paris 
and  has  given,  according  to  the  cadaver,  a  great  precision 

1  Admitted  as  the  basis  of  measurements  in  France  from  April  7,  1795 
(18  Germinal.  An  III.),  and  rendered  legal  November  2,  1801. 


Proportions  of  the  Body  41 

to  the  relations  between  them  of  the  different  parts  of  the 
body  in  adults  of  the  two  sexes. 

Anthropometric  canon  of  the  child  at  different  ages. — As 
to  the  child  at  different  ages  of  his  development,  I  have  been 
able  to  establish  the  proportions  of  his  body  by  relating  to 
the  stature  each  of  the  dimensions  of  length  and  of  breadth 
of  the  different  segments  (Plate  V.),  and  representing  those 
proportions  in  thousandths  parts  of  the  height  reduced  to 
a  thousand  millimeters,  to  one  hundred  centimeters,  that  is, 
to  a  meter.2 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  demonstrative  figures  which 
have  been  constructed  according  to  the  millimetric  notions, 
will  contribute  to  have  the  meter  substituted  for  the  con- 
ventional measurements.  The  plate  of  Stratz,  which  is 
found  reproduced  in  divers  works,  owing  to  the  employment 
of  the  height  of  the  head  as  the  standard  measure,  devi- 
ates, in  fact,  notably  from  reality.  I  have  indicated  on 
page  25  of  my  study  of  proportions  some  of  the  errors  of 
Stratz  and  their  rectification  by  means  of  the  metrical  meas- 
urement. 

n 

With  Plate  V  we  find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
partial  developments  such  as  are  effected  from  birth  to 
adult  age,  and  which  constitute  truly  relative  growth.  In 
this  plate  thicknesses  (and  circumferences)  are  not  shown. 
A  figurative  representation  of  these  could  be  made  only  by 
the  processes  of  sculpturing.  We  are  able  to  follow  the  ex- 
tra-uterine ontogeny  with  the  variations  which,  by  hered- 
ity and  environment,  it  expresses  in  skeletal,  muscular,  and 

2"Les  Proportions  du  corps  pendant  la  croissance,"  6  figures  and  9 
tables,  1910,  work  crowned  by  the  Academy  of  Medicine.  Larrey  Prize, 
1912.     Paris,  A.  Maloine,  publisher. 


42  Growth  During  School  Age 

segmentary  dimensions,  variations  which  are  considered  here 
only  in  their  relation  with  stature. 

Up  to  the  present,  we  have  studied  the  proportions  of 
the  adolescent,  beginning  with  the  age  of  thirteen  and  one- 
half  years,  which,  in  the  average  boy,  precedes  by  two  years 
the  age  of  the  appearance  of  the  first  signs  of  puberty.  We 
have  seen  that  these  variations  are  relatively  insignificant. 
Plate  V,  on  the  contrary,  takes  the  child  at  his  birth  and 
shows  some  relative  variations  of  great  extent.  The  plate 
is  sufficiently  expressive  by  itself  so  that  a  few  explanations 
will  suffice  for  its  interpretation.  The  same  holds  in  the 
case  of  Plate  I. 

It  is  known  that  between  birth  and  the  age  of  six  and 
one-half  years,  the  first  and  second  periods  of  infancy  elapse 
while  the  third  period  of  infancy  extends  from  six  and  one- 
half  years  to  fifteen  and  one-half,  the  average  age  of  puberty. 
This  exact  division  has  been  proposed  by  Marian  (Semaine 
mcdicale  of  November  21,  1896,  number  59)  and  deserves  to 
be  conserved  for  the  reason  given  by  the  author  to  which  are 
also  added  divers  ontogentic  motives.3 

The  age  of  seventeen  and  one-half  years  closes  the  period 
properly  called  pubescent  and  opens  the  internubilo-pubes- 
cent  phase  whose  limits  and  characteristics  have  been  traced 
in  my  communication  of  July  9,  1909,  to  the  Anthropolog- 
ical Society  of  Paris  (meeting  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary). 

Finally  comes  the  semi-silhouette  of  the  adult  at  twenty- 
three  and  one-half  years.  These  are  the  five  ages  portrayed 
in  the  plates  I  and  V. 

The  measurements  of  the  new-born  child  are  obtained  in 
a  rapid  and  simple  fashion  by  means  of  the  measuring  ap- 

3  One    must,   however,    acknowledge    a    fourth    phase    of    infancy,  the 

pubescent    phase,    which    extends    to   the    two    years    necessary    for  the 

inauguration  of  puberty,  from  fifteen  and  one-half  to  seventeen  and 
one-half,  on  the  average. 


Proportions  of  the  Body  43 

paratus  which  I  had  made  under  the  name  of  "auxano- 
metre"  4  and  of  which  the  lower  half  is  instantly  transformed 
into  a  horizontal  measuring  apparatus. 

The  height  and  breadth  of  all  the  segments  of  the  body 
are,  in  effect,  for  the  first  time  studied  metrically  in  their  re- 
lation to  stature  in  the  new-born  child  and  in  the  child  of 
six  and  one-half  years.  The  proportions  are  studied  as 
such.  In  determining  these  proportions  there  is  no  inter- 
vention of  preconceived  notions  which  prompt  us  to  attempt 
to  discover  a  segment  susceptible  of  being  utilized  to  meas- 
ure the  others. 

Plates  I  and  V  show  that  the  chin  of  the  new-born  child 
does  not  descend  to  the  lower  extremity  of  the  sternum,  not 
even  to  the  nipple  of  the  adult,  but  corresponds  only,  to  the 
mid-point  of  the  sternum  of  the  latter.  For  a  more  cogent 
reason,  the  proportional  height  of  the  head  diminishing  with 
age,  the  correspondence  of  chin  to  nipple  cannot  exist  later, 
just  as  the  figure  due  to  Stratz  and  cited  by  Cruchet  in  his 
remarkable  article  entitled :  "The  Child  from  Two  Years  to 
Puberty,"  from  the  "Pratique  des  Maladies  des  Enfants," 
vol.  I,  p.  382,  would  lead  one  to  believe. 

This  same  figure  presents,  for  example,  the  ascent  of  the 
great  trochanter  as  wonderfully  regular  and  attaining  its 
culminating  point  in  the  adult.  Now,  this  relative  culminat- 
ing point  is  in  reality  attained  in  the  adolescent  of  fifteen 
and  one-half  years. 

Likewise,  Stratz  thought  he  was  obliged  to  proportion 
each  of  the  segments  of  the  lower  limbs  to  the  stature  and 
to  increase  by  a  proportional  quantity  the  thigh  and  the 
leg  in  proportion  to  the  aging  of  the  child.  It  is  quite 
otherwise  that  things  take  place:  proportionally  to  stature, 
the    thigh    changes   very   little,    while    the    tibia    doubles    in 

4  Deposited  with  Maloine  fils,  rue  Casimir  Delavigne,  Paris. 


44  Growth  During  School  Age 

length  from  birth  to  fifteen  and  one-half  years.  In  the  up- 
per limbs  the  same  phenomenon  is  verified;  the  forearm 
lengthens  proportionally  by  more  than  a  third  of  its  length 
in  passing  from  zero  to  fifteen  and  one-half  years,  and  dur- 
ing this  time  the  relative  lengthening  of  the  arm  is  insig- 
nificant. 

That  is  a  surprising  fact  to  those  who  expect  an  aug- 
mentation of  each  segment  of  a  limb,  proportional  to  the  in- 
crease in  stature.  Observation  shows  that,  contrary  to  this 
theoretic  conception,  a  single  segment,  the  distal,  procures 
for  the  superior  limb  its  proportional  elongation,  between 
birth  and  puberty. 

The  pubis  gives  rise  to  an  important  remark:  instead  of 
being  subjacent  to  the  bitrochanteric  line  as  represented 
for  all  other  ages,  the  pubis  is  situated  in  the  newly  born 
above  the  bitrochanteric  line. 

The  basin  should  be  then  the  seat  of  two  successive  move- 
ments in  opposite  direction.  The  first,  having  for  effect, 
the  lowering  of  the  pubis,  was  taking  place  from  the  time  of 
birth  on.  Then  from  six  and  one-half  years  on,  an  inverse 
swing  with  an  elevation  of  the  level  of  the  pubis  was  no- 
ticed. This  fact,  singular  in  certain  respects,  can  be  con- 
sidered as  established  only  after  checking  up  by  some  new 
series  and  also  by  anatomical  relations  which  are  better  able 
than  the  relations  to  height  to  establish  a  fact  of  this  order. 

The  height  of  the  entire  trunk  of  the  new-born  child  is 
proportionally  quite  superior  to  that  of  later  ages.  The 
same  is  true,  obviously,  of  the  greater  part  of  the  segments 
of  the  trunk.  We  note  the  most  striking  differences  on  com- 
paring in  Plate  V,  the  first  semi-silhouette  with  the  second 
and  third ;  the  height  of  the  thorax  of  the  newly  born  is  ex- 
cessive ;  the  position  of  the  nipple  equidistant  from  the 
furculum  and  the   crest  of  the  sternum,  is   quite  different 


Proportions  of  the  Body  45 

from  that  in  the  two  following  semi-silhouettes ;  its  neck  is 
shorter  by  a  fourth  than  it  will  be  at  six  and  one-half  years, 
a  period  at  which  it  will  have  in  relation  to  stature  the  same 
length  as  at  twenty-three  and  one-half  years. 

Instead  of  meeting  the  bust  below  the  pubis  as  in  the 
large  boy  and  in  man,  the  middle  of  the  body  is  found  be- 
tween the  iliac  spine  and  the  pubis  of  the  six-year-old  child. 

In  the  child  at  birth,  the  bust  represents  sixty-six  hun- 
dredths of  the  total  height  of  the  body.  The  horizontal 
plane  which  corresponds  to  the  centre  of  the  body  cuts  it  at 
a  point  equally  distant  from  the  crest  of  the  iliac  and  the 
angle  of  the  tenth  rib.  But  the  neck  shows  a  width  which 
will  not  be  found  present  at  any  other  age ;  and  which  con- 
tinues to  diminish  until  puberty. 

Other  proportions  of  breadth  are  similar  to  those  of  the 
neck.  They  are  quite  superior  at  the  moment  of  birth  and 
continue  to  diminish  until  puberty.  Beyond  fifteen  and  one- 
half  years  we  know  how  they  behave.  But  the  variations 
of  the  cranium,  in  function  of  size,  in  height  as  well  as  in 
breadth,  are  particularly  striking,  and  give  by  themselves 
the  principal  relief  to  Plate  V.  The  cranium  offers  the 
rare  example  in  the  organism  of  a  magnitude  modifying  it- 
self throughout  the  years  in  a  regular  fashion.  It  is  a 
matter,  in  a  way,  of  a  relative  decrease.  That  means  sim- 
ply that  the  brain  of  the  child  is,  from  birth,  much  nearer 
its  adult  dimensions  than  any  other  organ  and  that  its  con- 
tent has  much  less  need  to  grow  than  does  stature. 

The  grand  spread  of  the  arms  (envergure)  offers  only  a 
feeble  anthropometric  interest.  It  is  complex,  in  fact,  and 
each  of  the  elements  which  constitute  it  has  been  measured 
for  its  own  sake.  However,  the  grand  spread  (envergure) 
is  not  a  matter  of  indifference  to  artists  who  sometimes  have 
occasion  to  look  at  it  in  its  ensemble,  the  superior  limbs  be- 


46  Growth  During  School  Age 

ing  extended  in  the  plane  of  the  clavicles.  Besides,  its  re- 
lations to  stature  are  often  invoked  in  support  of  divers 
theses. 

The  following  are  then  the  relations  to  size  of  that  mag- 
nitude which  surpasses  stature  itself,  except  in  the  baby  and 
in  seven  out  of  one  hundred  adolescents  and  adults.  It  is 
to  be  remarked  that  of  the  seven  per  cent,  one  only  is 
brachyskeletal  while  the  six  others  are  mesatiskeletal. 

Grand  spread    (envergure)    expressed   in   thousandths   of  stature. 

Infant    at    birth 92A 

Child  of  6y2   years 101. 

Adolescent  of  15%  years 103. 

of  171/,       «      103. 

Adult  of  23  years~ 106.1 

These  relations  have  been  established  from  the  fixed  aver- 
ages of  series  of  subjects  belonging  to  diverse  regions  and 
to  different  social  strata. 

By  relative  dimension, — and  here  is  an  important  point  of 
our  study  where  everything  is  analysis  of  relations, 
anatomo-physiological  expression  of  very  numerous  corre- 
lations— by  relative  dimension  is  understood  the  comparison 
of  each  partial  length,  evaluated  anthropometrically,  to  the 
total  length. 

If  it  is  a  question  of  the  leg,  for  example,  the  total  length 
to  which  one  relates  it  may  be  the  stature,  just  as  I  have 
done  in  the  study  of  the  proportions,  but  this  total  length 
may  just  as  well  be  the  length  of  the  lower  limb,  its  height 
above  the  ground,  of  which  the  leg  represents  a  part. 

From  the  point  of  view  properly  called  anatomical,  it  is 
different:  a  segment  is  compared  to  another  above  or  below 
it,  or  again  to  the  homologous  segment  of  the  thoracic  mem- 
ber, that  is,  to  the  forearm,  if  it  is  a  question  of  the  leg; 
but  one  must  avoid  relating  it  to  a  length,  whether  it  be  the 


Proportions  of  the  Body  47 

stature  or  the  inferior  member,  to  an  entire  (globale)  length 
of  which  the  segment  studied  formed  a  part. 

Thus,  one  will  not  compare  the  leg  to  the  stature,  unless 
for  special  purposes  such  as  guided  me  in  the  study  of  "pro- 
portions," one  will  not  compare  the  leg  to  the  total  length 
of  the  inferior  members,  because  in  one  case  as  in  the  other 
the  proper  height  of  the  leg  represents  a  part  of  the  di- 
mension to  which  it  is  related  and  that  thus  one  part  of  the 
quotient  would  represent  the  relation  of  the  leg  to  the  leg 
which  is  nonsense. 

Practically,  it  is  admitted  that  the  greater  of  the  two 
dimensions,  and  this  applies  to  the  dimensions  of  breadth 
as  to  the  dimensions  of  length,  is  equal  to  100,  (by  meter) 
so  that  the  fraction  obtained  gives  in  centimeters  or  in  milli- 
meters (in  hundredths  or  thousandths  of  a  meter)  the  rela- 
tive dimension  of  the  part  compared. 

If  we  proceed  by  this  comparison  in  the  same  child,  meas- 
ured six  times,  in  six  consecutive  half-years,  and  if  there 
are  brought  together  the  divers  half-yearly  results  of  the 
same  relation,  the  change  progressively  realized  is  verified. 

The  proportions  are  modified,  and  each  of  the  parts  or 
segments  of  the  body  has  taken  dimensions  absolutely  or 
relatively  different  according  to  the  importance,  greater  or 
less,  of  its  functional  role  in  the  advance  of  the  organism 
toward  its  state  of  perfection, 

iii 

Influence  of  growth  on  the  variations  of  the  proportions 
of  the  body. — Growth  has  a  considerable  influence  on  the 
proportions  of  the  body  which  it  causes  to  vary  within  lim- 
its often  widely  extended.  The  following  are  the  general 
considerations  to  which  these  variations  give  place,  such  as 


* 


48  Growth  During  School  Age 

I  have  formulated  in  a  communication  to  the  Academy  of 
Medicine  (session  of  June  27,  1911). 

Growth  modifies  in  a  constant  fashion  the  centesimal  re- 
lations to  the  stature  of  each  of  the  segmentary  lengths  and 
widths  of  the  body  of  man  at  three  different  ages:  birth, 
six  years,  and  fifteen  years. 

Now,  from  my  researches  published  up  to  the  present  time, 
it  results  that  the  evolution  of  the  variations  of  these  rela- 
tions is  dominated  by  some  laws  of  incontestible  anatomical 
and  physiological  interest.  I  state  them  here  briefly  ac- 
cording to  my  communication  on  the  same  subject  at  the 
session  of  the  Academy  of  Science,  June  19,  1911. 

Nature  and  the  extent  of  the  variations. — In  passing  from 
birth  of  the  child  to  manhood,  each  segment  makes  its  own 
contribution  to  stature.  Plates  I  and  V.  The  cranium 
and  the  trunk  both  lose  in  length  and  breadth,  the  former 
more  than  the  latter:  "cranium,  ten  hundredths  in  both  di- 
rections ;  trunk,  nine  hundredths  in  length  and  four  hun- 
dredths in  width." 

The  neck  loses  three  hundredths  in  diameter  but  gains 
two  hundredths  in  height. 

The  superior  limbs  gain  six  hundredths. 

The  lower  limbs  gain  seventeen  hundredths,  but  only  until 
puberty.     Beyond  that,  they  lose  one  hundredth. 

Alternation  of  variations. — It  follows  that  if  proportional 
increase  is  superior  to  that  of  stature  for  one  segment  of 
the  body,  it  is  inferior  to  it  for  the  segment  situated  imme- 
diately below  or  above.  Here  is  a  new  aspect  of  the  law 
of  alternation  which  I  formulated  in  1902  after  observa- 
tion of  the  growth  of  bones,  in  my  "Researches  on  Growth 
in  Different  Parts  of  the  Body."  (Recherches  sur  la  crois- 
sance  des  diver ses  parties  du  corps.) 


Proportions  of  the  Body  49 

Change  of  direction  of  variations, — A  segment  which  pro- 
gresses relatively  more  than  the  stature  up  to  puberty,  re- 
tards beyond  the  age  of  puberty ;  this  is  the  case  of  the  pel- 
vic member.  Such  other  segment  the  growth  of  which  is^ 
relatively  slower  than  stature  before  puberty,  gains  on  it 
when  puberty  is  passed  over. 

It  is  thus  that  the  relations  to  the  size  of  the  width  of  the 
neck,  of  the  height  of  the  thorax,  of  the  height  of  the  in- 
ferior or  iliac  abdomen,  of  the  height  of  the  ischio-pubic  seg- 
ment, of  the  width  of  the  basin,  of  the  length  of  the  arm 
(humeral  segment),  of  the  height  of  the  trunk  in  its  ensem- 
ble behave.     Plates  VI  and  VII. 

Puberty  has  then  a  decisive  influence  on  the  direction 
of  variations,  on  their  orientation.  It  possesses  besides,  on 
the  proportional  increases,  an  augmenting  (majorative)  ac- 
tion already  noted  apropos  the  absolute  increases. 

Phases  of  evolution  of  variations. — The  evolution  of  va- 
riations presented  by  the  proportions  of  length  and  breadth 
of  the  body  is  distributed  by  itself  among  three  phases,  pre- 
senting a  different  activity  of  growth ;  the  first  phase  ceases 
at  six  years,  a  period  at  which  six-tenths  are  traversed, 
and,  for  some  proportions  nine-tenths  of  the  augmentation 
or  diminution  of  the  proportional  increase;  in  such  a  way 
that  the  silhouette,  at  this  age,  indicates  already  what  it 
will  be  in  the  adult.  The  second  phase  extends  from  six 
years  to  puberty ;  the  third  terminates  at  the  adult  age,  at 
nubility.  The  most  active  for  the  proportional  enlarging 
of  the  body,  the  last,  is  at  the  same  time  the  least  active 
for  its  proportional  elongation.  Plates  I,  V,  VI  and  VII. 
The  opposite  takes  place  during  the  first  phase;  the  second 
phase,  the  middle,  is  only  a  lessened  sequel  of  the  first.  That 
constitutes  so  many  applications  of  the  law  of  alternations. 


50  Growth  During  School  Age 

Conclusions. — 1.  There  are  three  phases  in  the  evolution 
of  the  variations  presented  by  the  proportions  of  length  and 
of  breadth  of  the  body. 

The  first  from  birth  to  six  years. 

The  second  from  six  to  fifteen  years. 

The  third  from  fifteen  years  to  adult  age. 

2.  The  "law  of  alternation"  governs  the  proportional  in- 
creases of  the  segments  of  the  body,  as  it  governs  their  ab- 
solute increases. 

3.  The  variations  of  the  proportions  of  length  and  of 
width  of  the  body  in  the  two  sexes  are  profoundly  modified 
by  puberty  which  subjects  them  to  its  laws  of  orientation 
and  increase. 

4.  The  proportions  of  breadth,  in  general,  present  some 
peculiar  variations  which  are  correlated  with  those  of  the 
proportions  of  length   of  the   trunk. 

Partial  proportions. — Along  with  the  relations  to  stat- 
ure which  we  have  just  analyzed,  the  educator  cannot  be  dis- 
interested in  the  intersegmentary  relations  which  are  more- 
over properly  called  anatomical  relations  because  it  is  these 
relations  which  constitute  the  essential  part  of  the  indi- 
vidual formula  of  growth. 

The   first  place,   among  these   intersegmentary   relations, 

S 
comes  back  to  the  relation     —   of  Manouvrier. 

B 

B  represents  the  bust,  that  is,  the  whole  part  of  the  body 

which  rises  from  the  plane  of  the  seat  of  the  subject  sitting. 
On  taking  away  this  height  from  that  of  the  stature  erect, 
S  is  obtained  which  answers  to  a  reduced  length  of  the  lower 
limbs. 

On  classifying  the  series  of  children  in  accordance  with 
this  relation,  there  are  seen  to  group  themselves,  on  one  side 


Proportions  of  the  Body  51 

the  "short  legs,"  on  the  other  the  "long  legs'*  and  between 

the  average  legs.     Plate  VIII. 

With  the  "short  legs"  is  associated  a  long  bust  in  order 

to  constitute  the  brachyskeletal.      The  brachvskeletal  child 

of   thirteen   and  one-half   years  5   who   is   especially   charac- 

S 
terized  by  the  relation    —     of  which  the  quotient  oscillates 

in  his  case  around  87,  offers  numerous  anatomical  and  physi- 
ological correlations  of  this  relation. 

When  the  legs  {legs  in  the  sense  of  lower  limbs)  are  long, 
they  are  associated  with  a  short  bust  (necessarily,  since 
according  to  the  constituent  of  the  relation,  it  is  by  com- 
parison  with   the  bust  that   the   lower  members   are   called 

long  or  short)  and  the  macroskele  is  made  up.     It  is  trans- 

c 
lated  by  the  relation    —   =  96  (from  94  to  98  and  above). 

In   the  macroskele,   the   correlations   of   the   relation 

are  very  different  from  what  they  are  in  the  brachyskele,  and 
even  in  the  average  or  mesatiskele  of  whom  the  relation  os- 
cillates around  90.     Plate  VIII. 

From  puberty,  especially,  the  quotient  is  lowered  in 

proportion  as  the  child  advances  toward  the  adult  state, 
proving  some  functional  correlations  of  this  relation. 

It  is  in  the  child  specially  that  the  educator  has  reasons 
to  interest  himself  in  this  relation  which  plays  an  important 
part  in  the  individual  formula. 

Importance  of  functional  correlations. — Later,  when  we 

5  Dr.  Poutrin,  assistant  in  anthropology  at  the  Paris  Museum  of  Nat- 
ural History,  found  a  brachyskele  much  more  accentuated  than  that 
of  the  child  of  thirteen  and  one-half,  in  a  tribe  of  pigmies  of  Belgian 
Congo.  "Les  Negrilles  du  centre  africain,"  L'anthropologie,  tome  XXII, 
nos.  4-5,  1911. 


52  Growth  During  School  Age 

shall  study  the  make-up  of  the  individual  formula  of 
growth,  we  shall  utilize  again  the  intersegmentary  rela- 
tions, but  in  a  slightly  different  fashion,  owing  to  our  domi- 
nant prepossession  of  function:  we  shall  compare  among 
them  some  capacities.  The  research  of  functional  correla- 
tions will  lead  us  sometimes  to  compare  a  thickness  or  a 
length  to  a  volume  and  there  will  spring  from  it  some  im- 
portant information  for  educational  or  pedagogical  ad- 
ministration. 

The  measures  which  we  have  placed  on  the  individual 
record  card,  supphy  to  us  other  factors  of  relations  which 
we  shall  always  be  interested  in  calculating  in  view  of  the 
direct  and  immediate  information  which  they  can  procure 
for  us,  in  view  of  the  comparison  of  their  quotient  with  that 
of  the  same  relation  in  other  children,  or  with  itself  in  the 
same  child  some  half-years  later.  Such  are:  the  relation 
of  the  length  of  the  foot  to  the  height  of  the  lower  limbs; 
the  relation  of  the  length  of  the  lower  limbs  to  the  height 
of  the  trunk  (distance  from  sternal  furcula  to  the  pubis 
or  vertical  diameter  of  the  trunk) ;  the  relation  of  the 
height  of  the  trunk  to  the  length  of  the  neck  or  to  that 
of  every  other  segment  of  the  body,  cranium,  foot  or  hand, 
or  superior  limbs ;  the  relation  of  the  length  of  the  superior 
limbs  to  the  length  of  the  inferior  limbs,  the  relations 
of  the  breadth  to  the  height  of  some  segments,  such  as  the 
foot,  the  hand,  the  trunk,  the  cranium. 

The  educator  who  exercises  his  activity  in  multiple  direc- 
tions, will  be  interested  in  preoccupying  himself  with  these 
diverse  relations  only  so  far  as  he  will  be  invited  thereto  by 
the  individual  functional  correlations,  leaving  to  the  physi- 
cian the  care  of  estimating  the  digression  of  the  development 
which  he  might  believe  ought  to  be  indicated  to  him. 


CHAPTER  IV 

INFLUENCES  WHICH  ACT  UPON  GROWTH 

Influences  which  act  upon  stature. — Influence  of  food,  of 
sex,  of  race,  of  heredity,  of  season,  of  gestation,  of 
exercise, — Influence  of  function  of  reproduction. 

INFLUENCES  which  act  upon  stature. — The  studies 
which  have  been  made  up  to  the  present  time  of  the 
influences  which  act  upon  growth  have  borne  only  on  height 
alone  or  on  height  and  weight. 

We  have  seen  how  far  height  fell  short  of  representing 
"growth"  of  the  body,  of  expressing  what  scientific  analysis, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  educational  application,  on  the  other, 
can  and  must  understand  by  "growth." 

If  certain  influences  act  upon  height  and  augment  it, 
are  they  to  be  investigated  by  the  educator?  The  educator, 
in  order  to  solve  this  question,  will  commence  by  render- 
ing to  himself  an  account  of  the  organic  and  biological 
value  of  height,  of  the  individual  value  consequently,  in 
the  next  place,  of  its  social  and  economic  value.  He  will 
investigate  the  output  in  useful  work,  of  people  according 
to  height,  and  he  will  soon  have  caused  to  be  recognized 
throughout  history  that  the  races  of  small  or  medium 
stature  furnish  an  output  often  superior,  at  least  equal,  to 
that  of  races  of  tall  stature. 

That  might  appear  to  be  in  contradiction  with  certain 
facts  of  modern  and  contemporary  history,  but  this  im- 
pression will  not  withstand  a  more  searching  analysis  of 

53 


54  Growth  During  School  Age 

the  conditions  and  mechanism  of  output  by  which  voluntary 
work  is  differentiated  from  forced  work. 

They  are  no  longer  slaves  whom  we  see  at  work,  but 
peoples  of  other  nationalities  as  is  observed  on  English 
merchant  packets,  for  example,  while  we  see  only  Japanese 
on  Japanese  packets.  Anglo-Saxon  wealth  springs  in  part 
from  India,  and  from  the  Cape  where  the  workmen  are 
negroes,  Hindus  and  Chinese. 

If  the  arms  belong  to  men  of  small  or  medium  races,  are 
men  of  tall  stature  who  command,  who  direct,  perhaps  more 
richly  endowed  from  the  point  of  view  of  cerebral  quantity? 
The  answer  is  given  us  by  these  lines  1  of  L.  Manouvrier 
whose  excellent  studies  on  the  brain  are  known  and  appre- 
ciated in  the  scientific  circles  of  the  whole  world :  "The  quali- 
tative superiority  (of  the  brain)  is  a  condition  of  intellec- 
tual superiority ;  the  quantitative  superiority  is  another 
thing,  morphological  superiority  is  still  another.  And  it 
is  because  there  are  some  diverse  anatomical  conditions  in 
relation  with  the  intellectual  superiority  that  any  of  these 
conditions  would  not  be,  singly,  a  sufficient  base  to  evalu- 
ate the  intellectual  superiority,"  and  further  on :  "The 
average  of  these  62  Parisians,  all  very  tall,  is  equal  to  1365 
grams.2  One  could,  therefore,  explain  by  even  a  very  great 
superiority  of  height,  and  otherwise  not  demonstrated,  only 
a  part  of  the  quantitative  cerebral  superiority  of  the  se- 
ries of  distinguished  men." 

It  is  not,  we  may  conclude,  because  the  race  is  of  tall 
stature  that  it  necessarily  possesses  a  more  voluminous 
brain,  and  should  the  race  possess  it,  that  would  not  be  a 
sufficient   guarantee   of  intellectual  superiority.      The   con- 

1  "Dictionnaire  de  Physiologie,"  Charles  Richet,  3rd  part,  Vol.  II,  pp. 
672,   688,  689. 

a  Weight  very  near  the  average  weight  of  the  adult  brain  in  general 
(V.  Vierordt,  Boyd,  Manouvrier). 


Influences  which  Act  on  Growth  55 

elusion  is  that  the  educator  is  not  at  all  to  seek  intellectual  L^ 
superiority  for  his  pupils  in  the  superiority  of  stature. 

But  it  would  suffice  that  he  be  able  to  anticipate  height 
as  a  factor  of  health  and  strength  in  order  that  he  might 
be  authorized  to  "cultivate  the  elongation  of  the  body," 
Now,  every  one  knows  that  the  vigor  of  the  organism  is 
ordinarily  manifested  by  the  importance  of  the  other  di- 
mensions of  the  body,  breadth,  thickness,  bulk,  but  not  by 
the  height,  unless  this  be  unaccompanied  by  the  others. 

The  dimensions  which  correspond  in  a  high  degree  to 
organic  force  are  the  natural  adjunct  of  mountaineers,  agri- 
cultural laborers,  porters,  and  those  men  are  not  generally 
distinguished  by  the  height  of  their  stature. 

To  what  influences,  moreover,  is  the  increase  of  height  of 
a  boy  or  girl  beyond  the  limits  set  by  heredity  due  ?  In  other 
words,  what  are  the  conditions  which  cause  a  child  to  grow 
larger  than  the  father  and  mother?  What  we  observe  every 
day,  leaves  us  hardly  any  doubt  on  this  subject,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  statistics  show  it.  It  is  not  at  all  in  the  country 
that  the  descendents  gain  in  stature  over  the  progenitors. 
It  is  in  the  city ;  life  in  apartments,  life  at  college,  favor  the 
superiority  in  stature  of  the  child  over  his  parents.  Exag- 
gerated increase  in  height  is  as  well  the  effect  of  cloistering, 
of  insufficient  air,  of  activity  and  of  light,  as  is  constantly 
shown  in  children  who  rise  from  the  sick  bed  after  a  long 
illness.  The  increase  of  height  is  in  all  these  cases  the 
result  of  the  growth  in  length  of  the  long  bones  of  the 
lower  limbs.  The  bust  takes  only  an  inappreciable  share 
in  it  as  measurements  in  convalescents  have  demonstrated 
to  me. 

According  to  our  analysis  of  the  increase  of  height  and 
of  the  increase  of  its  constituent  elements,  we  know  that 
beyond  puberty,  the  lengthening  of  the  lower  limbs  becomes 


56  Growth  During  School  Age 

normally  very  feeble  and  that  already,  from  the  age  of 
eight  years,  the  lower  limbs  grow  less  and  less  each  year. 

Therefore  a  hoy  or  girl  from  thirteen  to  sixteen  years 
who  grows  noticeably  only  m  the  lower  limbs  is  already, 
on  this  ground,  open  to  suspicion  to  the  educator  who  is 
forewarned. 

If  it  were  permissible  to  reason  thus  biologically,  one 
could  say  that  of  the  two  sources  of  growth  from  which 
the  long  bone  draws,  dating  from  the  period  of  puberty, 
the  one  periosteal,  is  the  expression  of  nutrition,  the  other, 
cartilaginous,  is  the  expression  of  lack  of  nutrition. 

That  has  at  least  the  advantage  of  marking  out  clearly 
for  the  educator  the  choice  which  it  behooves  him  to  make 
and  to  fix  the  direction  in  which  he  must  orientate  his  ac- 
tion. 

It  is  sufficient  to  take  away  from  parents  the  ambition  of 
seeing  their  children  become  larger  than  themselves.  What 
"race"  does  not  do,  it  is  necessary  to  avoid  provoking,  at 
least  in  what  concerns  stature.  So  much  the  more  as  in- 
crease of  stature  under  the  influences  which  precede,  is  al- 
ways made  to  the  detriment  of  dimensions  advantageous 
for  the  body. 

Owing  to  the  state  of  illness  of  the  child  subjected  to 
these  influences  the  phases  of  alternation  (I  shall  return 
later  to  the  biological  role  of  alternation)  are  transgressed. 
While,  in  the  regular  evolution  of  growth,  a  phase  of  in- 
crease in  bulk  succeeds  a  phase  of  increase  in  length,  it  is 
no  longer  so  in  the  case  of  the  poor  young  prisoner  of  the 
urban  apartment  and  of  the  establishments  of  instruction, 
and  one  of  the  phases  is  prolonged  indefinitely;  the  worst 
is,  it  is  fatal. 

Stature,  the  highest  that  phylogeny  admits  of,  is  real- 
ized then,  saving  exceptions,  to  the  detriment  of  the  dimen- 


Influences  which  Act  on  Growth  57 

sions  of  the  body,  the  most  advantageous  for  its  strength 
and  the  most  useful  for  its  preservation  from  sickness. 

Conceive  now  to  what  errors  of  interpretation  we  should 
expose  ourselves  deliberately  if  we  should  judge  of  growth 
by  height,  if  we  should  want  to  evaluate  according  to  their 
effects  on  height,  the  influences  which  are  susceptible  of 
acting  upon  growth. 

We  know  now  that  the  study  of  the  influences  of  these 
diverse  factors  on  height  instructs  us  very  little  in  what 
concerns  the  action  of  these  factors  upon  growth,  in  spite 
of  the  corrective  contributed  by  weighing,  which  divers  au- 
thors point  out. 

Logically  we  shall  consider  as  very  useful  documents  the 
studies  made  in  this  direction,  but  for  the  word  "growth" 
we  shall  substitute  mentally  the  word  "s+ature";  we  shall 
keep  in  mind  that  we  do  not  have  the  right  to  come  to  a 
conclusion  of  the  one  from  the  other.  That  fact  estab- 
lished, the  following  is  a  resume  of  the  notions  acquired  rela- 
tive to  the  different  influences  on  height. 

The  influence  of  nutrition  which  is  here  suitably  called 
alimentation,  because  nutrition  is  the  resultant  of  a  host  of 
organic  factors  of  physical,  chemical,  and  biological  order, 
which  appears  to  depend  especially  upon  heredity  and 
placental  alimentation,  and  of  which  we  are  within  reach 
of  verifying  only  the  effects.  Alimentation  which  repre- 
sents only  one  element  of  it,  the  external  element,  is,  on  the 
contrary,  in  our  hands,  an  undeniable  means  of  action  and 
we  ought  to  observe  its  influence  with  the  greatest  care. 
According  to  the  writers,  it  appears  that,  all  things  being 
equal,  and  especially  the  conditions  depending  upon  the 
race  and  family  inheritance,  stature  becomes  greater  under 
the  influence  of  a  substantial  alimentation.  The  study  of 
Carlier:  "Des  rapports  de  la  taille  avec  le  bien-etre"  (some 


58  Growth  During  School  Age 

relations  of  stature  to  well-being)  is  one  of  the  best  of  which 
we  are  possessed  with  those  of  Villerme  (1829)  and  that 
of  Manouvrier  (1888).  But  these  studies  do  not  only  con- 
sider the  alimentary  influence,  they  refer  to  all  the  sur- 
rounding conditions.  It  would  also  be  necessary  to  know 
whether  the  stature  of  the  descendants  thus  favored  has 
exceeded  that  of  the  progenitors. 

Influence  of  sex. — Assuredly  the  average  stature  is  less 
*-""in  the  feminine  sex;  as  to  the  manner  of  behavior  of  the  in- 
crease of  the  stature  throughout  the  successive  ages,  the 
writers  are  not  in  accord.  Variot  and  Chaumet  (1906)  do 
not  subscribe  to  the  conclusions  of  Schmidt  who  disap- 
proves of  Quetelet's  viewpoint.  All  of  that  is  especially  a 
matter  of  methods  of  observation,  Quetelet  alone  having  ob- 
served with  constancy  the  same  children  from  age  to  age. 

Influence  of  race  and  heredity. — These  two  factors  can 
hardly  be  separated  as  H.  de  Varigny 3  remarked.  The 
tables  cited  by  that  author  are  the  best  proof  of  the  kind, 
and  it  is  necessary  to  abide  by  the  tables,  for  everywhere 
confusion  reigns  between  "increase  of  height  and  growth," 
whence  the  difficulty  of  squaring  the  proofs  on  man  with 
those  which  breeders  have  collected  on  animals,  who  do  not 
seem  to  fall  into  the  same  error. 

STATURE  ACCORDING  TO  RACES 
(after  H.  de  Varigny) 

Tall  stature,  170  cm.  and  over, 

Patagonians,  185  cm. ;  Comanches,  180  cm. ;  Polynesians, 
176  cm. ;  Iroquois,  173  cm. ;  Scandinavians,  171  cm. ;  Scotch, 
171  cm. ;  Zulus,  170  cm. ;  Esquimaux,  170  cm. 

3  H.    de    Varigny.    Art.    Croissance    du    Dictionnaire    de    Physiologie, 
Ch.  Richet.— F.  Alcan,  edit.,  2e  fasc.  du  t.  IV. 


Influences  which  Act  on  Growth  59 

Above  the  average,  165  to  169  cm. 

Nubians,  English,  Germans,  169  cm. ;  Belgians  and  Arabs, 
168  cm. ;  French,  165  cm. 

Below  the  average,  160  to  16 '4-  cm. 

Australians,  Chinese,  Bavarians,  Esthonians,  161;  cm. ; 
Jews,  163  cm. ;  Japanese,  160  cm. 

Small,  less  than  160  cm. 

Malays,  Annamese,  159  cm. ;  Ostiaks,  156  cm. ;  Lap- 
landers, 153  cm. ;  Siamese,  152  cm. ;  Bushmen,  144  cm. 

De  Varigny  does  not  give  the  sources  from  which  he 
draws  the  facts  of  these  tables.  Polynesians,  Arabs,  Es- 
quimaux are  evidently  too  comprehensive  denominations. 
Among  the  Arabs  I  have  personally  verified  some  ethnic 
groups  differing  greatly,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  average 
height  of  Esquimaux  which  I  have  been  able  to  measure  was 
147  cm.  and  did  not  attain  to  150  cm.  even  among  those  of 
the  young  men  of  the  Hudson  Bay  shores,  who  kept  on  their 
moccassins.  ^They  were  some  thirty  years  of  age. 

Let  us  remember  that  Broca  attributed  the  predominant 
influence,  in  matter  of  stature  to  race. 

Influence  of  climate. — De  Varigny  rightly  makes  us  ob- 
serve that  no  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  these  collected 
data  because  no  account  at  all  has  been  taken  of  racial 
difference,  and  because  the  method  used  is  not  good.  The 
fact  is  that  the  theory  of  the  reductive  influence  of  cold  on 
the  proportions  of  living  organisms  is  hardly  verified  for 
man  who  counts  the  tallest  of  his  representatives  in  the 
frigid  countries,  such  as  Patagonia,  Scandinavia  or  Scot- 
land, and  who  presents  races  of  pigmies  in  Maylasia  (von 
Luschan),  in  Congo  (Poutrin),  etc. 

Under  the  equator  live  some  ta11  t"p->  r^d  near  the  poles 


60  Growth  During  School  Age 

are  found  the  Lapps  and  certain  groups  of  very  small 
Esquimaux  (147  cm.).  According  to  that,  climate  exer- 
cises no  appreciable  action  on  adult  stature;  man's  tall- 
ness  or  shortness  remains  independent  of  latitude. 

When  one  gets  a  clear  idea  of  it,  he  is  convinced  that  cli- 
mate has  no  relation  with  the  manner  in  which,  under  the 
diverse  latitudes,  the  different  parts  of  the  body  are  de- 
veloped from  birth ;  climate  has  no  relation  with  the  modality 
of  growth,  with  its  rhythm. 

Influence  of  seasons. — The  patient  researches  of  Mailing 
Hansen,  who  followed  day  by  day  the  height  and  weight  of 
the  deaf  mutes  of  his  institution  at  Copenhagen,  and  even 
repeated  the  measurement  and  weighing  several  times  a  day, 
furnish  some  very  interesting  ideas  the  import  of  which 
would  be  still  greater  if  his  subjects  had  not  been  infirm, 
subjected  to  institutional  life,  and  if  he  had  not  limited 
himself  to  the  measurement  of  stature  and  weight. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Mailing  Hansen  recognized  that  when 
weight  augments,  height  does  not  appear  to  increase,  and 
vice  versa :  "During  autumn  and  beginning  of  winter,  the 
child  accumulates  weight ;  but  height  remains  stationary. 
At  the  beginning  of  summer,  weight  remains  almost  with- 
out change,  but  the  child  shoots  up  in  height,  like  the  trees," 
etc.4 

According  to  Combe  (of  Lausanne)  season  exercised  its 
influence  already  before  birth;  boys  born  from  September 
to  February  were  shorter  than  the  boys  born  from  March 
to  August;  girls  were  shorter  when  born  from  December 
to  May.  The  younger  children  of  Daffner  always  showed 
a  summer  growth  superior  to  winter  growth  (October  to 
April.) 

4De  Varigny,  loc.  cit. 


Influences  which  Act  on  Growth  61 

The  researches  of  Carlier  5  which  preceded  the  above  and 
seem  to  have  inspired  them  as  they  have  inspired  mine,  had 
admirably  determined  the  influence  of  the  seasons  relative 
to  weight,  to  thoracic  perimeter  and  to  height  which  the 
author  sums  up  in  the  following  table. 

Average  total  increase  in  summer  and  in  winter  of  the 
perimeter  (subpectoral  thoracic  girth),  of  weight  and  of 
height. 

(From  13y2  to  15y3  years) 

p-imeter  I  £^: ::::::::  8.9  Z:  \ Difference  4-2  cm- 

Weight      \  Vvinter ?'i??ikg'    Difference  1.778  kg. 

"ciguL      ^  summer 7.711  kg.  )  6 

Height       J winter ti     Cm'l  Difference  1.2  cm. 

B  I  summer 7.7     cm.  ) 

However,  as  Buffon  had  already  remarked,  between  birth 
and  five  years,  the  seasons  are  without  influence  on  increase 
of  height.  Beyond  five  years  the  influence  becomes  very  evi- 
dent. 

The  influence  of  gestation. — There  is  no  antagonism  at 
all,  as  Herbert  Spencer  thought  between  these  two  evolu- 
tions: growth  and  reproduction.  Every  physician  has  met 
young  mothers  who  kept  on  growing  between  the  birth  and 
the  weaning  of  their  first-born  and  even  later.  Nubility, 
however,  we  shall  see,  is  really  established  only  with  the  com- 
pletion of  the  growth  of  the  different  parts  of  the  body,  and 
consequently  of  height. 

The  influence  of  castration  will  be  discussed  in  the  study 
of  the  influence  of  the  reproductive  function. 

Reciprocal  relation  of  illness  and  growth. — There  re- 
mains for  us  to  get  a  brief  notion  of  the  influence  of  illness 

5  Dr.  G.  Carlier,  physician  major  of  the  army,  Extract  des  Memoirts 
de  la  SociUe  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,  2e  serie,  t.  IV,  82  pages.  "Re- 
cherches   anthropometriques  sur  la  croissance." 


62  Growth  During  School  Age 

on  the  increase  of  stature ;  and  of  growth  on  illness  or,  more 
exactly  of  age  on  illness. 
•We  have  already  seen  above  that  after  a  general  fashion, 
£^illness  increases  height  particularly  during  the  period  of 
convalescence.  From  "preliminary  reservation,"  it  cannot 
be  a  question  in  these  cases  of  explaining  the  source  on 
which  the  organic  effort  of  growth  draws ;  no  more  than 
of  gathering  up  ("recueillement")  for  the  organism  has 
just  undergone  a  particularly  exhausting  test  while  meet- 
ing the  obligations  which  an  infection  necessarily  brings 
along  with  it. 

As  to  the  phases  of  growth  to  which  the  organism  be- 
comes more  vulnerable,  there  is  none  of  them  which  may 
not  be  the  fact  of  a  fault  in  bringing  up  or  education,  per- 
haps in  both,  unless  both  have  been  preceded  by  the  action 
of  an  unlucky  heredity. 

Placental  alimentation  has  its  repercussion  up  to  the  time 
of  puberty.  The  feeding  of  the  nursling  makes  a  good  or 
bad  digestive  apparatus,  which  becomes  from  that  point  a 
gateway  closed  or  open  to  the  various  infections  to  which 
infancy  is  exposed.  Now,  as  Marfan  has  demonstrated,  the 
most  of  the  infections  of  young  age  penetrate  into  the  or- 
ganism by  way  of  the  digestive  tract. 

I  have  been  able  to  determine  that  it  is  also  the  digestive 
// tract  which  gives  access  to  the  greatest  number  of  infec- 
tions, in  the  child,  up  to  the  end  of  the  pubescent  phase. 
So  that  the  receptivity  of  a  child  to  disease  during  the 
course  of  its  growth,  is  in  great  part  the  work  of  the 
mother  who  has  been  a  good  or  bad  placental  nurse,  a  good 
or  bad  nurse  at  the  breast,  or  who  replaced  the  breast  with 
the  bottle,  creating  with  the  greatest  ease  that  "latent  dis- 
pepsia"  which  Marfan  describes  and  incurring  the  respon- 
sibility of  later  infections. 


Influences  which  Act  on  Growth  63 

Thus  everything  leads  back,  in  matter  of  relation  be- 
tween growth  and  sickness,  to  individual  conditions. 

Influence  of  exercise. — Carlier  recognizes,  as  the  authors 
who  have  preceded  and  followed  him,  withal,  that  height 
does  not  appear  to  be  influenced  by  physical  exercises.  How- 
ever, permanent  living  in  the  open  air,  continued  erect  pos- 
ture, long  daily  walks,  hard  work,  do  not  favor  in  the  child 
development  in  height  but  in  breadth,  in  thickness,  in  bulk, 
that  is  in  strength.  In  the  city,  this  fact  is  observed  in 
the  young  workmen  who  wait  on  masons,  for  example. 

Animals  which  are  deprived  of  exercise  by  keeping  them 
sheltered  from  the  light,  as  I  have  repeatedly  experimented 
on  animals  not  subjected  to  the  regime  of  fattening,  do  not 
delay  in  stretching  out  and  surpass  in  a  relatively  short 
time  the  height  of  subjects  of  the  same  age  and  more.  For 
rabbits  and  for  chickens,  nothing  is  more  easy  to  verify. 

During  eight  years,  I  followed  some  methodical  investi- 
gations concerning  the  influence  of  gymnastic  exercises  on 
the  growth  of  the  different  dimensions  of  the  child.  I  did 
not  stop  with  his  stature,  his  girth,  and  his  weight ;  I  took 
other  measurements.  The  following  are  the  conclusions  to 
which  I  have  been  led  in  what  concerns  these  three  measure- 
ments : 

In  adolescents  from  fourteen  and  one-half  to  eighteen 
years  old,  gymnastics  on  apparatus   (stationary  bar)  : 

1.  Does  not  injure  growth  in  height. 

£.  Procures  for  the  thoracic  cavity  more  amplitude  than 
it  would  take  on  spontaneously. 

3.  Increases  the  density  of  the  tissues,  the  weight  of  the 
bodv,  etc. 

The  import  of  these  conclusions  is  due  to  the  method  pur- 
sued, to  the  number  of  scholars  observed,  two  hundred,  to  the 
continuity  of  the  observation  on  the  same  children  from 


64  Growth  During  School  Age 

semester  to  semester ,  etc.,  all  conditions  usual  to  the 
auxanological  method,  which  I  conceived  and  have  continu- 
ously applied  since  1891-1893. 

The  grouping  of  pupils  into  gymnasts,  nom-gymnasts, 
sickly  gymnasts  and  sickly  non-gymnasts  has  permitted  of 
studying  the  diverse  categories  of  scholars  in  function  of 
gymnastic  exercises  and  of  always  reserving  a  number  of 
children  for  proof  (temoins)  equal  to  the  number  of  chil- 
dren observed  in  order  to  permit  valid  comparisons. 

The  influence  of  exercises  was  investigated  in  its  effects 
on  growth.  It  was  advisable  then  to  make  the  starting  point 
very  clear-cut  between  the  development  due  to  the  spon- 
taneous evolution  of  growth  and  the  development  due  to 
exercise?  For  that  purpose,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
study  of  growth  precede  that  of  the  modifier,  the  agent  of 
physical  education.    This  is  what  was  done. 

Finally,  I  took  account  of  distant  effects,  of  remote  re- 
sults of  the  exercises  on  growth,  while  continuing  to  observe 
the  pupils  beyond  the  period  of  gymnastic  training. 

These  advantageous  conditions  of  observation  were  found 
realized  then  for  the  first  time.  They  have  not  been  repeated 
since.  Also,  I  believe  I  ought  to  lay  stress  upon  it  in  order 
to  cause  you  to  note  the  complexity  of  the  experimentation 
when  it  has  for  its  object  growth,  for  subjects  children, 
that  is,  organisms  in  process  of  continuous  transformation, 
as  much  as  to  make  you  note  especially  the  results  which 
differ  in  certain  aspects  from  the  results  mentioned  above, 
by  the  preceding  and  following  authors.  My  memoir  was 
published  in  1901  by  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris. 

These  researches  have  had  at  the  same  time  as  end  the 

"An   indispensable  method   in  order   to   arrive   at   a   classification   of 
exercises  according  to  their  effects. 


Influences  which  Act  on  Growth  65 

establishing  of  a  method  of  checking  up  of  the  effects  of 
physical  education  by  anthropometric  means. 

For  this  reason  they  represent  an  application  to  educa- 
tion of  the  auxanological  method  and  will  be  stated  with 
their  graphs  and  tables  in  the  part  of  this  work  which  treats 
more  specially  of  applications  to  education  and  pedagogy, 
of  the  results  of  my  researches  on  Growth  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  body. 

The  influence  of  consanguinity  on  growth  is  poorly  under- 
stood in  man  and  besides  difficult  to  study,  the  terms  of 
comparison  being  lacking.  In  animals,  observation  assumes 
the  precision  of  an  experimentation.  It  is  stated  that  con- 
sanguinity represents  only  a  hereditary  accumulation  in 
the  same  direction,  as  far  as  the  notions  acquired  at  pres- 
ent are  able  to  give  an  account  of  it  (v.  Mendel's  laws). 

Influence  of  function  of  reproduction  is  considerable. — It 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  educator  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  it.  It  will  be  treated  in  Chapters  V,  VI,  VII, 
and  VIII.     It  is  puberty. 


CHAPTER  V 

PUBERTY INFLUENCE     OF     THE     REPRODUCTIVE     ELEMENTS 

ON    GROWTH 

Determination  of  the  dawn  of  puberty. — Some  causes  of 
error. — Most  favorable  season  for  the  dawn  of  puberty. 
— Almost  the  whole  of  puberal  phenomena  escapes  him 
who  does  not  repeat  semiannually  his  observations  on 
the  same  subject. — What  is  puberty?     Definition. 

IF  we  desire  to  study  the  influence  of  the  function  of  re- 
production on  growth  we  must  approach  it  by  that  one 
of  its  manifestations  which  is  the  most  easily  seized  upon. 

We  shall  see  next  if  we  are  able  to  reach  in  each  direction, 
to  the  age  which  precedes  and  to  the  age  which  follows,  and 
to  search  into  and  understand  the  action  of  the  constant 
element  of  the  evolution  of  reproduction,  of  the  germen,  not 
only  on  one  dimension  of  the  body  but  on  all  the  dimensions 
of  the  organism  of  the  child,  considered  in  its  totality  and  in 
each  of  its  parts,  just  as  in  the  proportional  relations  of 
these  parts  among  themselves.  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  action  of 
the  germen  on  growth  which  we  shall  attempt  to  determine, 
abandoning  the  beaten  paths  and  the  simple  verification  of 
coincidences. 

The  importance  of  this  study  for  the  educator  is  further 
increased  by  this  fact  that  growth  reveals  some  of  the  ob- 
scure phases  of  the  evolution  of  the  germen.  Reciprocally 
the  germen  makes  us  understand  certain  parts  of  the  mechan- 

66 


Puberty  67 

ism  of  growth  by  the  mode  of  influence  which  it  exercises 
upon  it. 

•  •••••• 

Puberty  is  announced  in  both  sexes,  just  as  its  name  in- 
dicates (pubes,  hair)  by  the  shoot  of  hairs  on  the  skin  which 
covers  the  anterior  part  of  the  bones  of  the  basin  called 
pubis.  Hair  shows  itself  first  at  this  point,  then,  a  little 
later  in  the  armpits  when  the  hairs  of  the  pubis  are  already 
quite  developed. 

In  woman,  the  appearance  of  the  menstrual  flow  precedes 
by  very  little  that  of  the  axillary  hairs  according  to  Dr. 
Martha  Francillon,  and  determines  the  period  of  the  dawn 
of  puberty.  The  flow  gradually  increases  in  abundance 
and  reaches  its  fulness  in  the  girl  in  good  health  at  the 
same  time  that  the  growth  of  the  hair  of  the  armpits  and 
pubis  is  completed. 

In  man  the  essential  phenomenon  escaping  investigation, 
the  secondary  signs  assume  greater  importance,  and  it  be- 
comes indispensable  to  arrange  them  in  order  of  importance 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  exact  information. 

Determination  of  the  dawn  of  puberty  in  boys. — Let  us 
note  by  P1,  the  appearance  of  the  first  hairs  on  the  pubis, 
other  than  the  downy  hair,  besides  hardly  visible,  and  which 
fall  at  the  invasion  of  the  real  hair.  The  bov  has  an  aver- 
age  age  of  fourteen  and  one-half  years. 

At  the  following  half  yearly  measurement,  which  is  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  years,  the  hairs  have  become  more  numerous 
and  the  voice  has  taken  on  a  degree  of  hoarseness  which  it 
did  not  have  before.  You  note  down  P2  and  the  change  of 
voice,  summer  or  winter  191 — . 

The  following  semester,  the  subject  reaches  fifteen  and 
one-half  years ;  the  hairs  have  become  still  more  numerous 


68  Growth  During  School  Age 

on  the  pubis,  longer,  and  form  a  light  fleece,  but  sufficient  to 
conceal  the  skin  of  the  region.  You  record  P3.  But,  at 
the  same  time  the  attention  of  the  observer  being  at  each 
examination  methodically  directed  to  the  whole  cutaneous 
surface,  he  discovers  in  one  or  both  of  the  armpits  a  light 
down  of  analogous  color  or  a  trifle  lighter  than  that  of 
the  down  on  the  pubis.     You  mark  A1. 

At  this  time,  fifteen  and  one-half  years,  there  is  then 
on  the  appearance  of  puberty  the  following  data:  P3  A1, 
change  of  voice,  15%  years. 

Does  the  color  of  the  scrotum  change?  Different  authors 
mention  a  scrotal  pigmentation.  If  the  color  of  the  scrotum 
is  modified,  it  is  very  little.  It  is  frequently  a  matter  of  an 
appearance  due  to  the  wrinkling  of  the  skin  by  a  stronger 
and  more  sensitive  dartos,  the  subject  being  deprived  of 
clothing.  To  the  darkened  grooves  which  result  from  it, 
is  added  a  sombre  tint  which  the  few  hairs  more  or  less 
dark,  disseminated  over  its  surface,  give  to  the  teguments. 
That  is  far  from  taking  place  in  all  cases.  If  this  sign  were 
constant,  I  should  propose  to  note  the  reinforcement  of  the 
dartos,  a  flat  muscle  whose  contraction  produces  the  cu- 
taneous puckering  by  the  same  mechanism  as  on  the  fore- 
head, for  example. 

The  volume  of  the  genital  organs  is  modified  only  in 
exceptions  at  this  epoch.  Their  augmentation  has  been 
verified  in  the  whole  of  my  series  of  the  first  and  second  rank 
only  in  the  neighborhood  of  seventeen  years.  Consequently 
this  modification  does  not  occur  at  an  opportune  time  to  help 
the  researches  of  the  observer  who  purposes  limiting  him- 
self scrupulously  to  the  notation  of  statements  which  are 
certain. 

Physicians  would  have  definitely  established  all  those 
facts  long  ago,  if  they  had  been  called  to  observe  periodi- 


Puberty  69 

cally,  the  same  subjects  in  a  nude  state.  But  in  the  lycees, 
colleges,  or  schools,  as  well  as  in  the  families,  the  physician 
is  called  only  to  the  bedside  of  the  sick  child,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  the  consultation  of  an  educational  institu- 
tion, as  in  that  of  the  hospital,  he  has  an  opportunity  of 
observing  in  its  ensemble  the  nude  body  of  the  adolescent 
only  if  the  latter  is  afflicted  by  an  affection  which  makes 
necessary  a  complete  stripping,  which  is  the  exception.  Be- 
sides, his  observation  would  have  worth  only  if  it  were  re- 
peated in  the  following  half-year  intervals. 

The  grouping  of  these  three  signs,  P3,  A1,  change  of  voice, 
appears  sufficient  to  establish  the  time  at  which  puberty  is 
settled.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  change  of  voice  has 
coincided  in  general  with  P2,  and  was  able  to  be  recorded 
at  the  corresponding  measurement  at  the  average  age  of 
fifteen  years.  It  precedes  by  about  six  months  the  time  at 
which  one  can  record  P3  A1. 

In  order  to  obtain  all  the  desired  precision  and  to  give 
to  each  sign  the  importance  which  it  merits,  it  is  necessary 
to  be  acquainted  with  the  chronology  of  these  phenomena, 
the  average  age  of  the  appearance  of  each  one  of  them. 
For  change  of  voice  the  average  age  is  fourteen  }Tears  and 
eight  months,  while  P  attains  the  third  power,  and  A  the 
first,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years  and  six  months.  We  shall 
see  that  the  change  of  voice  is  often  difficult  to  observe,  and 
that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  it  is  expedient  to  con- 
sider the  dawn  of  puberty  as  answering  to  P3  A1,  that  is, 
for  the  average,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years  and  six  months. 

I  remind  you  by  reason  of  its  singularity  and  of  the 
functional  and  pathological  correlations  which  you  can 
verify,  of  a  fact  which  I  mentioned  already  in  1902,  namely, 
the  appearance  of  hair  later  in  the  left  armpit  than  in  the 
right  or  the  reverse.     That  is  met  with  only  in  some  cases. 


70  Growth  During  School  Age 

In  all  cases,  on  the  contrary,  I  have  observed  the  delay  of 
the  axillary  shoot  on  the  pubic  shoot,  a  delay  of  a  year  on 
the  average,  as  the  difference  of  powers  of  P  and  of  A  in 
the  expression  P3  A1  indicates  clearly. 

It  is  conceived  that  this  order  of  chronological  hierarchy 
of  the  facts  of  growth  can  be  observed  only  on  condition 
of  following  the  same  subjects  from  half-year  to  half-year. 

Some  causes  of  error. — It  may  happen  that  the  downy 
hairs  are  mistaken  for  a  beginning  of  the  puberal  shoot; 
the  fact  is  rather  rare  but  it  can  occur.  Here  is  an  ex- 
ample: number  thirteen  of  my  series  of  the  first  rank  (100 
subjects  from  thirteen  to  eighteen  years)  entered  the  pre- 
paratory school  at  thirteen  years  and  four  months,  present- 
ing on  the  face  and  temples,  on  the  back,  on  the  posterior 
side  of  the  arm,  on  the  anterior  part  of  the  legs,  some 
downy  hairs  in  abundance,  lying  flat,  and  of  a  brown  color. 

In  April,  1897,  I  ascertained  on  the  pubic  region,  some 
fine  hairs  quite  abundant.  I  noted  P%.  In  October  of  the 
same  year,  the  disappearance  was  quite  noticeable  and  I 
was  obliged  to  lower  the  power  of  P  to  14.  In  the  month 
of  April  following,  April,  1898,  the  pubis  had  regained  its 
fine  down  of  1897  and  merited  again  PV2-  When  the  meas- 
urement of  October,  1898,  took  place,  the  pubic  region  was 
wholly  smooth  and  gave  place  to  the  notation  P°.  The  same 
condition  existed  in  April,  1899.  Finally,  in  October,  1899, 
some  hairs  no  longer  down,  but  downright  black,  stronger 
and  more  abundant,  covered  the  pubis  in  part,  and  were 
equal  to  P1.  Then  there  succeeded  on  the  record  card  of  the 
individual  from  semester  to  semester:  P2  A1;  P4  Az ;  P5  A5; 
it  was  a  matter  of  a  subject  measured  ten  times,  the  great 
majority  of  his  comrades  in  the  same  school  having  been 
measured  only  nine  times,  that  is,  at  nine  consecutive  se- 
mesters. 


Puberty  71 

In  the  matter  of  the  change  of  the  voice,  I  have  only  a 
few  remarks  to  add.  It  is  clear  that  it  is  not  sufficient  to 
note  one  time  in  passing,  in  traversing  an  agglomeration 
as  physician  or  explorer,  that  the  voice  of  a  boy  or  girl  is 
dissonant,  hoarse  or  low  to  conclude  there  is  a  change  of  the 
larynx. 

The  change  is,  when  it  is  produced,  always  the  same 
phenomenon  arising  in  the  course  of  adolescence  with  the 
same  characteristics,  with  the  same  sequence  of  signs.  But 
it  can  very  well  not  have  occurred  or  pass  unperceived.  The 
state  of  the  voice  during  change,  aside  from  some  remark- 
able cases,  is  only  a  modification  of  the  anterior  state ;  ac- 
quaintance with  this  anterior  state,  with  the  sonorousness 
and  with  the  timbre  customary  in  the  voice  of  the  child, 
will  permit  the  estimating  of  the  changes  in  him,  in  propor- 
tion as  they  occur.  There  also,  the  indispensable  condition 
of  a  good  observation  is  to  follow  the  same  subject  through- 
out the  years  of  adolescence. 

There  are  children,  for  whom  the  observer  experiences 
some  difficulty  in  assigning  a  date  to  this  phenomenon,  in 
appearance  so  striking,  of  the  change  of  the  voice.  In  such 
adolescent,  the  modification  is  made  in  a  manner  quite  in- 
sensible to  the  best  trained  ear.  That  appears  to  arise  from 
the  fact  that  the  voice  is  modified  at  once  in  the  whole  range 
of  its  scale  as  is  often  observed  in  girls.  Hence,  the  absence 
of  discordant  sounds  and  of  hoarseness;  the  tone  becomes 
deeper  by  a  slow  and  gentle  progress,  so  that  the  change 
can  occur  unperceived  by  the  most  attentive  observer. 

I  have  met  in  schools  some  children  with  a  deep  voice 
upon  their  arrival,  when  they  did  not  yet  present  any  sign 
of  puberty.  Whether  it  be  a  matter  of  a  premature  change 
or  of  a  special  individual  conformation,  the  result  is  never- 
theless that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  determine  for  that 


72  Growth  During  School  Age 

class  of  subjects  the  time  at  which  this  sign  of  puberty 
really  appears. 

In  numbers  10  and  17  of  the  series  of  the  first  rank 
(100  children,  thirteen  to  eighteen  years)  the  change  of  the 
voice  was  unnoticeable ;  it  was  completed  without  my  suc- 
ceeding in  fixing  the  date  of  it.  The  other  attributes  of 
puberty  manifested  themselves  between  fifteen  and  sixteen 
years  as  for  the  greatest  number.  The  "bass"  voice  gave 
rise  to  the  same  results  for  numbers,  6,  25,  and  39  of  this 
same  series. 

In  100  boys,  70  changes  can  be  determined;  5  can  not  be 
determined;  and  in  25  there  is  no  change.  The  other  sec- 
ondary signs  occur  at  greatly  variable  periods  of  the  evo- 
lution of  puberty,  so  that  they  cannot  be  systematically 
used  when  it  is  a  question  of  determining  the  time  of  ap- 
pearance of  puberty. 


•  • 


Most  favorable  season  for  the  dawn  of  puberty. — The 
warm  season  is  more  favorable  than  the  cold  to  the  dawn 
of  puberty  in  the  adolescent.  Out  of  100  subjects,  there 
are  12  for  which  the  appearance  of  puberty  could  not  be 
determined,  either  because  it  had  already  taken  place  at 
the  time  of  admission  to  school  or  because  it  had  not  mani- 
fested itself  before  the  last  measurement. 

SEASON  OF  APPEARANCE  OF  PUBERTY 

Number    of   observations 100 

AVarm    season    53 

Cold   season    35 

Indeterminate    12 

Almost  the  whole  of  puberal  phenomena  escapes  him  who 
does  not  repeat  semi-annually  his  observations  on  the  same 
subject. — It  is  not  enough  to  examine  the  child  once  a  year, 
if  it  is  desired  to  discern  the  season  of  the  appearance  of 


Puberty  73 

puberty.  Semi-annual  observation  is  indispensable  as  well 
for  the  determination  of  pilar  signs  as  for  the  determination 
of  the  progress  of  puberty.  For  want  of  the  periodical  ex- 
amination of  the  same  subject,  phenomena  of  all  kinds  also 
escape,  and  nothing  can  be  known  of  what  has  immediately 
preceded  or  immediately  followed  the  dawn  of  puberty. 

The  year,  in  respect  of  its  temperature,  not  being  divisi- 
ble into  less  than  two  periods,  the  warm  season  and  the 
cold,  and  the  half-yearly  measurement,  April-October,  for 
example,  taking  account  of  it,  it  follows  that  the  modifica- 
tions marked  in  October,  are  changes  realized  during  the 
warm  period,  changes  with  respect  to  the  results  of  the 
measurements  and  notations  of  April  preceding. 

An  annual  observer  would  not  have  seen  his  subjects  again 
from  October  to  October;  the  changes  noted  by  him  would 
be  only  by  comparison  with  the  results  of  the  preceding 
year;  the  phases  of  evolution  effected  in  the  course  of  the 
cold  season  would  remain  unknown.  For  the  annual  ob- 
server, the  term  "prepubescent"  designates  the  subject  dur- 
ing the  "year"  previous,  while  for  the  semi-annual  observer 
the  same  term  is  applied  to  the  state  which  has  immediately 
preceded  that  to  which  the  present  measurement  is  applied. 
The  difference  is  considerable.  Not  merely  by  reason  of  the 
divergence  which  that  engenders,  but  especially  in  the  in- 
terest of  reality.  Let  us  recognize,  however,  that  the  quali- 
fying term  prepubescent  can,  with  as  much  reason  be  at- 
tributed to  the  whole  period  of  growth  which  stretches 
between  birth  and  puberty. 

What  is  puberty?  Definition. — And  now,  since  the  con- 
ditions of  its  appearance  are  well  determined,  let  us  ask 
what  puberty  is. 

The  comparative  study  of  the  half-yearly  observations  of 
my  two  series  of  peripubescents  (230  subjects  from  thirteen 


7-i  Growth  During  School  Age 

to  eighteen  years,  the  same  followed  at  six-month  intervals) 
constitutes  the  basis  upon  which  the  notions  rest  which  have 
just  been  developed  touching  the  phenomena  of  puberty 
and  the  correlative  phenomena  which  interest  the  direction 
of  education  of  the  child. 

The  deductions  of  this  comparative  study  can  be  very 
numerous  as  soon  as  puberty  is  considered  in  its  origins,  its 
mechanism,  in  its  effects  as  it  is  here.  But  it  is  essential 
that  each  of  the  deductions  proceed  exactly  from  the  facts 
observed,  that  each  induction  rest  on  these  facts  through- 
out the  whole  extent  of  its  base. 

Up  to  this  point,  puberty  was  especially  considered  as  a 
phase  more  or  less  difficult  to  traverse,  and  beyond  which, 
the  child,  become  a  young  man,  found  himself  in  a  state  to 
procreate.  Physiology  qualified  it  by  "the  period  charac- 
terized by  profound  sexual  modifications."  (Gley).  The 
special  recent  studies  designate  it  as  the  "post-embryonic 
period  specially  consecrated  to  the  establishment  of  the 
genital  function  representing  the  human  homologue  of  the 
sexual  maturity  of  animals."1  Dr.  Cruchet  in  his  article 
"Puberty"  of  the  "Practique  des  Maladies  des  Enfants" 
presses  \he  analysis  of  puberty  farther  than  most  authors. 
"In  resume,"  he  writes  in  1909,  "we  shall  designate  under 
the  name  puberty  the  whole  period  of  growth  which  extends 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  in  girls  and  from  fourteen  to 
eighteen  years  in  boys.  It  includes  the  series  of  modifica- 
tions of  physical  or  psychical  order  which  have  for  effect 
the  transforming  of  the  organism  of  the  child  into  a  new 
organism,  that  of  the  adolescent." 

I  do  not  believe  that  we  ought  to  content  ourselves  with 
coincidences  which,  in  the  main,  these  diverse  essays  at  defi- 
nition limit  themselves  to  establish.     That  cannot  suffice  us 

*"La  Puberty,"  1906,  by  Dr.  Martha  Francillon. 


Puberty  75 

as  physicians,  as  educators.  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  at- 
tempt to  go  farther,  to  make  use  of  the  latest  acquisitions 
of  science  in  order  to  go  back  to  the  causes. 

If  we  should  succeed  in  this  line,  we  should  certainly  bring 
some  light  into  the  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  role  of 
puberty;  into  the  knowledge  of  the  relations  of  the  germen 
and  of  the  soma.  I  propose  then  to  pass  immediately  to  the 
final  synthesis  and  to  define  puberty  according  to  its  cause, 
its  character  and  its  action. 

Definition  of  puberty 

Puberty  is  that  phase  of  growth  in  which  the  matured 
germen  provokes  a  new  embryonic  elaboration  of  the  soma 
in  order  to  mature  it  in  its  turn,  and  to  perfect  thus  the 
function  of  reproduction. 

This  definition,  if  it  is  in  accord  with  reality,  ought  to 
enable  us  to  understand  the  phenomena  of  puberty,  not 
only  in  general,  but  also  in  each  individual  in  particular; 
it  ought  also  to ,  put  us  on  the  scent  of  the  explanation  of 
a  good  many  of  the  phenomena. 

Understood,  and  partially  explained,  puberty  ceasing  to 
be  an  enigma  for  the  educator,  it  depends  upon  him  to  make 
it  a  point  of  support  and  to  find  in  it  a  bit  of  illumination, 
in  the  difficult  hours  of  the  direction  of  education  of  the 
individual,  as  well  as  the  indispensable  physiological  basis  of 
a  psychological  puberty  adequate  to  reality, 

While  waiting,  we  are  going  to  attempt  our  best  to 
scrutinize  the  profound  nature  of  this  phenomenon  and  we 
"shall  not  turn  aside  from  any  detail  into  which  its  analysis 
will  lead  us, 


CHAPTER  VI 

PUBERTY     (CONTINUED) 

Analysis  of  puberty  by  the  means  of  the  phenomena  of 
growth  which  it  determines. — Augmented  growth,  re- 
duced or  arrested  growth,  total  growth  or  appearance 
of  organs,  disappearance  of  organs,  involutions. — 
Embryogenic  function  of  puberty. 

ANALYSIS  of  puberty  by  means  of  the  phenomena  of 
growth  which  it  determines. — When  the  time  of  puberty 
approaches,  growth  modifies  its  rhythm  in  the  divers  seg- 
ments. Plates  I,  II,  III,  IV,  V,  IX,  X  and  XVI.  The 
activity  of  increase  is  greater  for  some  tissue,  less  for  some 
other,  none  at  all  or  retrogressive  elsewhere.  Certain  organs 
appear  at  all  points. 

Augmented  growth. — The  child  on  becoming  pubescent 
loses  many  of  the  elements  which  give  elasticity  to  his  move- 
ments ;  the  elastic  fibers  lose  elasticity,  and  there  are  some 
fibrous  elements  whose  multiplication  enlarges  the  ligaments 
and  the  tendons,  and  thickens  the  aponeuroses. 

The  connective  tissue  of  which  the  fibrous  elements  are 
constituted  also  form  numerous  other  organs,  even  some 
cellules  with  the  function  of  secretion.  It  constitutes  the 
balustrades,  the  partitions,  the  systems  of  support  of  the 
viscera.  It  forms  the  meninges  (duramater  and  piamater), 
it  forms  the  serous  membranes,  those  of  articulation  as 
those   of   the   great    cavities,   the   arachnoid   which   clothes 

76 


Puberty  77 

the  brain,  as  the  pleura  which  covers  the  lungs  and  the 
peritoneum  of  the  intestines.  The  connective  tissue  under 
its  divers  aspects  is  the  seat  of  augmentation  of  breadth  and 
thickness,  of  appreciable  physiological  hypertrophy. 

The  long  bones  have,  above  all,  elongated  since  birth,  the 
connective  cartilage  enjoying  superior  activity  which  char- 
acterizes cartilaginous  growth  during  this  period.  From 
now  on,  they  are  to  grow  stouter;1  this  increase  in  thick- 
ness will  be  due  to  the  osteogenetic  activity  of  the  perios- 
teum which,  in  its  character  of  original  connective  tissue,  has 
benefited  by  the  general  connective  hypertrophy,  and  has 
received  in  abundance  of  the  formative  elements  of  which 
it  was  moderately  provided  up  to  this  time. 

The  muscles  of  the  limbs,  of  the  trunk,  of  the  neck,  of 
the  face,  and  of  the  skull,  augment  in  the  semester  of  the 
appearance  of  puberty  more  than  they  had  augmented  in 
the  semester  preceding.  The  striated  muscles  of  the  heart 
take  on,  by  successive  steps,  greater  thickness,  and  the  en- 
tire organ  greater  volume.  Frequent,  periodic  ausculation 
reveals  in  many  children  the  alternation  of  this  increase 
which  is  in  correlation,  moreover,  with  the  increase  of  blood 
pressure.  The  diaphragm  gains  in  strength  by  the  hy- 
pertrophy of  its  double  muscular  and  connective  element  as 
the  accrued  amplification  of  the  abdominal  respiratory  move- 
ments prove.  The  smooth  muscles  of  the  walls  of  the  blood- 
vessels are  notably  strengthened  as  are  those  of  the  walls 
of  the  digestive  tube,  and  particularly  those  of  the  intes- 
tines. 

The  external  genital  organs  show  only  very  little  change 
at  the  debut  of  puberty.  The  authors  who  describe  the 
notable  development  of  these  organs  and  complete  it  by  a 
series   of   attributes   which   directly   make   adult   organs   of 

xThis  development  is  delayed  for  the  tibia  and  the  fibula  Plate  X,  D. 


78  Growth  During  School  Age 

them  quite  certainly  have  not  been  able  to  determine  the 
period  of  puberty  which  they  were  observing. 

This  determination  is,  in  fact,  we  know,  quite  impossible 
when  the  identical  children  are  not  examined  at  intervals 
of  six  months.  For  him  who,  on  the  contrary,  proceeds  in 
this  fashion,  puberty  shows  itself  much  less  in  haste  to  trans- 
form the  external  genital  organs ;  it  takes  a  year  for  it, 
often  more  and  at  least  six  months. 

The  testicles,  in  absence  of  volume,  take  on  immediately 
a  little  more  firmness.  It  is  probable  that  the  prostate, 
Cooper's  glands  and  the  seminal  vesicles  will  grow  in  pro- 
portion to  the  requirements  which  the  activity  of  the  func- 
tion of  reproduction  will  impose  upon  them.  But  exactly 
in  consequence  of  the  functional  correlations  which  con- 
nect them,  it  is  logical  to  expect  this  hypertrophy  of  the 
sexual  glands  only  at  the  time  when  the  genital  organs  them- 
selves give  evidence  of  a  sufficient  functional  maturity. 

Reduced  or  arrested  growth. — The  skin  is  in  this  state; 
its  epidermal  layer  is  renewed  in  thickness,  but  it  augments 
only  feebly  and  slowly  in  extent.  In  observing  the  same 
non-pubescent  subject  semi-annually,  one  remarks,  on  some 
prescribed  points  around  the  articulation  of  the  knee,  for 
example,  that  the  tegument  is  relaxed,  easy  to  pinch  be- 
tween the  fingers  and  to  raise  within  a  certain  limit.  At 
the  following  examination,  when  the  augmentation  of  weight 
corresponds  to  a  normal  increase,  without  addition  of  adi- 
pose tissue,  at  the  same  spot  the  skin  is  seen  to  be  stretched, 
more  or  less  difficult  to  pinch,  but  quite  removed  in  any 
event  from  the  looseness  noted  in  the  preceding  semester. 
This  is  an  effect  of  alternation  in  the  growth  of  the  skin. 

When,  in  this  subject,  the  time  of  dawn  of  puberty  comes, 
it  occurs  that  the  tension  of  the  skin,  and  the  condition  is 
more  obvious  above  the  knees  than  elsewhere,  is  still  more 


Puberty  79 

increased.  It  is,  without  doubt,  that  the  lower  limbs  are 
enormously  and  suddenly  elongated;  that  can  proceed  to 
the  point  of  rupture  of  the  elastic  elements  (Troisier  and 
Menetrier)  of  the  skin,  a  rupture  which  takes  place  fol- 
lowing one  or  several  transversal  lines  above  the  knee-pan, 
and  leaves  behind  one  or  several  white  bands  called  "ver- 
getures  de  croissance."  2 

There  is  the  same  reduction  of  development  for  the  ner- 
vous tissue  whose  noble  element  approaches,  at  the  time 
of  puberty,  the  limit  of  its  increase  while  the  connective 
element,  which  surrounds  and  penetrates  it,  benefits  more 
or  less  by  the  general  connective  hypertrophy. 

The  brain,  according  to  the  tables  of  Vierordt  and  of 
Boyd,  attains  its  greatest  average  weight  between  fifteen 
and  sixteen  years.  Vierordt 3  finds  at  twenty-one  years 
(average  adult  age  of  those  who  reached  puberty  at  the 
average  age  of  fifteen  and  one-half  years)  that  the  average 
weight  of  the  brain  does  not  exceed  1412  grams,  while  it 
reaches  1490  grams  at  fifteen  years  in  the  male.  In  the 
female,  the  same  author  finds  the  maximum  1345  grams  at 
fourteen  years  and  only  1228  grams  at  twenty  years. 

The  statistics  of  Boyd  (1861)  cited  by  Manouvrier  in 
his  article  "Morphologie  generale  du  cerveau"  of  the  Die- 
tionnaire  de  physiologie  by  Charles  Richet,  gives :  from 
twenty  to  thirty  years,  1357  grams,  and  from  fourteen  to 
twenty  years,  1374  grams  in  man.  For  adult  woman  he 
gives  1238  grams,  while  the  girl  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
years  reaches  1244  grams  (brain  weight). 

From  these  two  sets  of  statistics  it  evidently  follows 
that  the  maximum  weight  of  the  brain  is  attained  at  the 
moment  of  puberty.     The  tables  of  Vierordt  are  still  more 

2  Rays  arising  from  the  distension  of  the  skin  in  growth. — Trl. 
3"Daten  und  Tabellen." 


80  Growth  During  School  Age 

categoric  than  those  of  Boyd  because  they  fix  the  age  and 
show  better  the  decline  of  the  weight  of  the  brain  beyond 
puberty.  Postpubescent  reduction  of  increase  of  nervous 
tissue  affects  the  peripheral  nerves  like  the  central  nerves. 

Total  growth.  Appearance  of  organs. — The  hairs  of  the 
pubis  and  of  the  arm-pits  spring  up  at  all  points.  Their 
emergence,  at  the  surface  of  the  skin  of  these  two  pre- 
scribed regions,  and  that  in  both  sexes,  caused  it  to  be  used 
as  a  sign  of  the  approach,  then  of  the  dawn  of  puberty. 

The  first  hairs  which  range  over  the  surface  of  the  body 
are  downy  hairs,  hairs  lacking  in  marrow  and  supplied 
with  large  sebaceous  glands.  At  a  given  time,  these  hairs 
fall,  and  the  shoots  of  the  permanent  ones  begin,  the  latter 
with  pith,  hairs  of  the  same  sort  as  those  which  will  later 
appear  on  the  face. 

Thinly-scattered  at  first,  they  merit  the  notation  P1, 
then  successively  P2  and  P3,  on  the  pubis  where  they  are 
first  seen.  We  know  that  it  is  at  this  moment  that  the  hairs 
of  the  arm-pits  appear,  A1,  while  the  change  of  voice,  another 
phenomenon  of  growth,  was  realized  when  P  had  reached 
P2.  We  have  also  seen  that  the  hair  does  not  always  appear 
at  the  same  time  in  both  arm-pits,  a  difference  which  will 
always  be  noted  by  reason  of  its  possible  correlation  with 
the  state  of  the  lung  corresponding  to  the  retarded  arm- 
pit. I  have  met  a  few  cases  of  pulmonary  tuberculosis 
in  boys  who  had  presented  this  phenomenon,  the  tubercular 
lung  corresponding  first  to  the  tardy  shoot. 


Another  example  of  total  growth  is  given  by  the  thyroid 
gland,  where  are  organized,  around  vessels,  a  veritable  net- 
work of  lymphatic  vessels  which  are  substituted  for  the  blood 
vessels   in   their   role   of   channels   of   excretion   of   colloidal 


Puberty  81 

substance.  This  fact,  whose  physiological  interpretation 
remains  quite  obscure,  is  construed  by  a  new  activity  of  the 
thyroidal  function  and  by  various  organic  phenomena  which 
appear  to  be  attached  to  it. 

This  suffices  in  order  that  the  educator  may  remember 
that  the  thyroid  gland  enters  into  a  new  phase  of  its  organic 
role,  dating  from  the  dawn  of  puberty,  and  that  he  will 
do  well  to  follow  its  variations  in  volume,  with  a  view  to 
pointing  them  out  to  the  physician,  if  such  should  be  the 
case. 

Disappearance  of  organs.  Involutions. — It  is  one  thing 
to  consider  some  phenomena  of  this  order  as  some  coinci- 
dences with  those  which  precede  and  with  puberty  itself, 
another  thing  to  join  them  to  a  common  cause  and  to  show 
that  the  objective,  is  indeed  always,  although  indirectly, 
the  convergence  of  all  the  organic  resources  towards  the 
realization  of  the  function  of  reproduction. 

The  evolution  of  the  thymus  is  a  witness  of  this  in  an 
interesting  fashion.  Observation  on  animals  has  demon- 
strated to  me,  in  fact,  that  the  volume  of  the  thymus  and 
that  of  the  testicle  are  inversely  proportional  during  the 
immature  phase,  and  the  same  condition  holds  in  man  before 
puberty,  as  I  have  been  able  to  verify  in  subjects  whose 
thymus  possessed  a  cervical  lobe  appreciable  to  the  touch. 

That  gives  meaning  to  the  retrogression  of  the  thymus 
and  explains  in  a  certain  measure  the  role  of  the  lympho- 
epithelial  body,  its  relation  with  chondroblastic  activity, 
with  the  richness  in  myeloplax  of  the  marrow  of  the  bones; 
and  it  is  explained  somewhat  that  the  thymus  recedes  at  the 
moment  when  the  dawn  of  the  function  of  the  testicle  is  ef- 
fected, at  which  time  the  character  and  influence  of  the 
interstitial  cellules  are  recognized,  at  the  moment  when 
there  is  produced  in  the  thyroid  gland,  a  transformation 


82  Growth  During  School  Age 

incontestably  favorable  to  the  role  which  it  appears  called 
upon  to  play  henceforth. 

The  thymus  is  vascularized  before  the  third  month 
(Prenant).  It  enters  into  function  from  this  time.  The 
beginning  of  its  retrogression  has  been  fixed  at  the  age  of 
two  years.  That  is  individual.  But,  in  general,  its  volume 
diminishes  and  the  fatty  degeneration  of  certain  of  its  ele- 
ments is  effected  in  proportion  as  the  volume  and  firmness 
of  the  testicle  increase,  in  order  to  perfect  itself  about  the 
time  at  which  the  germen  terminates  its  evolution. 

The  group  of  lymphoid  organs  called  amygdalae,  "en- 
closed follicles,"  undergoes  a  similar  regression  although 
slower,  and  not  appearing  to  depend  to  the  same  degree 
on  the  development  of  the  testicle,  but  perhaps,  rather  on 
that  of  the  paraganglion.  Certain  facts  of  observation  lead 
me  to  believe  as  much. 

In  these  amygdalae,  spread  to  every  portion  of  the  di- 
gestive tract,  but  which  appear  more  voluminous  at  the 
level  of  the  superior  portion  of  the  pharynx,  the  stifling  is 
designed  by  the  interfollicular  connective  tissue  which  be- 
comes more  and  more  fibrous,  by  the  closed  follicles  which 
they  enclose,  and  where,  from  then  on,  fatty  degeneration 
begins. 

Embryogenic  function  of  puberty. — By  these  phenom- 
ena of  total  growth,  of  augmented  growth,  puberty  causes 
an  embryogenic  power  to  be  manifested. 

Not  included  in  puberty,  is  a  phenomenon  of  appearance 
of  organs,  that  of  the  coming  of  the  teeth,  which  would  ap- 
pear to  prove  that  the  embryogenic  power,  in  the  course 
of  post-foetal  ontogeny,  is  not  the  peculiar  property  of 
puberty. 

This  would,  however,  be  a  false  interpretation  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  teeth,  which  is  a  continuous  phenomenon 


Puberty  83 

from  the  second  month  of  interuterine  life,  up  to  the  adult 
age,  but  of  which  we  judge  only  at  the  time  when  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  gums  is  cut. 

A  very  remarkable  thing,  the  dental  evolution  presents 
three  phases  like  the  evolution  of  the  variations  presented 
by  the  proportions  of  length  and  breadth  of  the  bod}',  and 
the  three  phases  of  those  two  developments  blend  absolutely. 
In  other  words,  the  phases  of  dental  evolution  are  added  to 
the  phases  of  the  evolution  of  the  proportions  in  order  to 
characterize  the  periods,  the  ages  of  evolution,  such  as  we 
have  delimited  them  (see  p.  50). 

The  first  phase:  from  birth  to  six  years  and  first  denti- 
tion; 

The  second  phase :  from  six  or  seven  years  to  fifteen  years 
and  second  dentition ; 

The  third  phase :  from  fifteen  years  to  adult  age  and  close 
of  dentition;  that  is,  the  four  second  molars  and  the  four 
third  when  these  latter,  which  are  called  "wisdom  teeth,"  do 
not  remain  imprisoned  in  their  alveolar  processes. 

Dental  evolution  is  then  indeed  a  reflection  of  the  general 
evolution  of  the  soma  (Professor  Baumel)  with  which  it 
shares  the  progress  of  growth,  conformable  to  the  laws  laid 
down  by  Magitot.4  The  period  of  puberty  answers  to  its 
last  phase,  as  for  the  soma,  and  it  is  to  that  to  which  its 
action  is  limited. 

But  it  is  another  category  of  phenomena  which  are  really 
an  effect  and  a  proof  of  the  embryogenic  character  of  the 
influence  of  puberty.  I  mean  the  irregular  growth,  which 
results  from  the  different  nature  of  the  tissues  which  enter 
into  the  constitution  of  an  organ  and  the  different  activity 
of  growth  of  which  they  are  the  seat.  In  other  words,  in  a 
like    organ,    the    play    of    augmented    growths,    of    reduced 

4  "Diet,  encyclopedique  des  Sciences  medicates,"  Ire  serie,  tome  XXVII. 


84  Growth  During  School  Age 

growths  and  of  arrested  growths,  creates  some  inequalities 
of  the  kind  of  those  which  have  been  observed  in  the  first 
hours  of  life. 

In  the  embryo,  these  irregularities  of  growth  had  for  end 
the  building  of  organs.  Today,  since  the  organs  are  formed 
the  end  of  irregular  growth  can  only  be  to  perfect  them, 
to  render  their  function  easier  and  more  in  harmony  with 
the  new  needs  of  the  henceforth  pubescent  human  being. 

In  the  whole  normal  organism,  irregular  growth  is  gov- 
erned in  puberty  by  the  law  of  alternation.  When  the  or- 
ganic equilibrium  is  disturbed  irregular  growth  can  escape 
the  law  of  alternation  and  determine  the  pathologic  con- 
dition. 


CHAPTER  VII 

PUBERTY     (CONTINUED) 

Influence  of  alimentation  by  the  placenta;  precocious  pu- 
berty, delayed  puberty. — Some  somatic  conditions  of 
psychological  puberty — an  example. — Separation  of 
pubescent s  from  non-pubescent s. 

INFLUENCE  of  alimentation  by  the  placenta. — The  pla- 
centa transmits  to  the  child  some  elements  of  nutrition 
modified,  without  doubt,  by  the  special  work  which  the  mate- 
rial blood  undergoes  in  that  organ  but  not  endowed  by  what 
is  absent  in  it.  Let  the  mother,  anaemic,  pale  and  feeble,  a 
townswoman  nervously  engaged  in  the  cycle  of  city  occupa- 
tions, deprived  besides  of  all  the  conditions  of  space,  air,  light, 
and  physical  activity  which  cause  life  to  thrill  to  the  very 
finger-tips  and  to  the  roots  of  the  hair;  let  the  mother,  in 
short,  without  being  positively  ill,  be  the  opposite  of  a  vig- 
orous woman,  then,  placental  nutrition  of  the  child  will  have 
all  the  chances  of  being  bad.  It  is  the  same,  moreover,  in 
the  case  where  a  woman  well  built  and  of  usual  fine  health 
commits  imprudence  on  imprudence  from  conception  on;  in 
the  case  where,  during  the  course  of  pregnancy,  pleasures 
and  sports  occupy  her  life;  wedding  tour,  mountain  trips, 
skiing,  motorcars,  rough  voyages,  etc.  .  .  .  An  infectious 
malady  of  the  mother  during  the  evolution  of  the  embryo- 
foetus  has  very  often  the  same  effects ;  the  latter  can,  be- 
sides, be  very  easily  provoked  by  a  simple  fall  in  the  course 
of  pregnancy.     Bad  nutrition  by  the  placenta  can  have  a 

85 


86  Growth  During  School  Age 

great  many  mediate  and  immediate  effects  and  can  be  sin- 
gularly reenforced  by  the  nature  of  the  alimentation  after 
birth. 

Precocious  puberty;  delayed  'puberty. — But  a  remote  ef- 
fect is  what  one  could  almost  count  upon.  This  is  the  re- 
tardation of  puberty.  There  is  nothing  about  it  which 
ought  to  surprise  us.  Do  we  not  know  that  this  embryo- 
foetal  period  is  that  of  the  constituting  of  the  seminal  and 
somatic  progeny,  that,  on  their  nutrition  at  this  moment  de- 
pends the  speed  of  their  evolution,  and  that,  from  the  con- 
stitution of  the  placenta,  the  germen  finds  itself  under  the 
nutritive  dependence  of  the  soma?  That  suffices  in  order 
to  understand  that  a  poor  placental  nutrition  can  deter- 
mine a  delayed  puberty,  and  that  precocious  puberty  may 
be  the  result  of  a  good  inter-uterine  alimentation. 

One  rarely  finds  two  brothers  who  reach  their  puberty 
at  the  same  age.  That  fact  has  not  at  all  passed  unper- 
ceived  by  the  physician  who  has  been  enabled  to  witness  the 
birth  and  follow,  until  beyond  puberty,  the  two  male  prod- 
ucts of  a  twin-pregnancy. 

I  do  not  except  the  twins  called  "identical,"  for  that 
identity  does  not  resist  the  physiological  and  clinical  ob- 
servation completed  by  anthropometrical  examination  by 
which  the  anatomical  conditions  are  determined.  I  do  not 
except  them  for  these  differences  which  one  has  a  tendency 
to  consider  as  reserved  to  some  twins  of  different  sexes,  in 
matter  of  physical  extra-genital  quality,  as  in  matter  of 
proportions  of  the  diverse  segments  of  the  body,  exist  quite 
as  well,  with  some  very  rare  exceptions,  in  twins  of  the  same 
sex  called  identical. 

The  cases  of  twin  brothers,  becoming  pubescent  at  dif- 
ferent ages  and  having  been  reared  under  the  same  roof, 
are  sufficiently  numerous  to  lessen  notably  the  influence  at- 


Puberty  87 

tributed  to  race,  to  heredity,  to  climate  on  the  advance  or 
retardation  of  the  time  of  puberty.  Garn.  Adr.  reached 
puberty  at  14  years;  Garn.  Eug.,  his  twin  brother,  reached 
his  at  17  years.  Among  boys  whom  I  have  followed  like 
these  from  the  age  of  thirteen  years  to  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  I  could  cite  some  other  examples  and  I  have  equally 
noted  some  in  families. 

Cases  of  brothers,  not  twins,  but  of  the  same  father  and 
mother,  who  have  grown  up  side  by  side  and  have  received 
the  same  alimentation  during  the  first  year  of  their  exist- 
ence, testify  in  the  same  direction. 

Now,  of  two  twins,  that  one  who  will  be  developed  the 
last,  is  precisely  the  one  who,  at  birth,  was  the  least  nour- 
ished. This  defective  inter-uterine  nutrition  re-echoes,  we 
know,  on  puberty  in  a  twofold  way.  The  germen  has  been 
indifferently  nourished  at  the  very  period  of  the  constitut- 
ing of  the  seminal  offspring  and  this  is  the  chief  point.  Be- 
sides, the  somatic  offspring,  at  the  moment  of  its  constitu- 
tion, has  suffered  also  from  that  defective  nutrition  of  which 
the  nutritive  contributions  of  the  soma  to  the  cellules  of 
Sertolli  will  not  cease  to  feel  the  effects.  That  indirect  in- 
fluence will  be  added,  for  the  seminal  offspring,  to  the  in- 
fluence which  is  directly  exercised  upon  it,  and  the  neces- 
sary consequence  is  the  retardation  of  its  maturing. 

Such  are  the  various  physiological  reasons  which  lead 
to  attributing  to  placental  alimentation  the  preponderate 
influence  on  the  age  of  the  appearance  of  puberty. 

Some  influences,  of  pathological  order,  extra  as  wTell  as 
inter-uterine,  are  also  sometimes  exercised,  and  show  them- 
selves capable  at  various  times  of  reenforcing  or  lessen- 
ing that  primordial  cause:  such  is  the  influence  of  a  tumor 
of  the  testicle  which  can  provoke,  as  early  as  the  age  of 
nine  and  one-half  years,  puberty  with  its  physical  and  moral 


86  Growth  During  School  Age 

attributes,  puberty  which  disappears  with  the  tumor  and 
leaves  no  trace  four  months  after  removal  of  the  latter  with 
the  testicle  affected.  All  hair  from  the  pubis  and  arm- 
pits have  fallen  and  the  voice  itself  has  again  become  a 
child's  voice  (case  of  Dr.  Sacchi,  reported  by  Marro). 

This  fact  shows  clearly  that  the  germen  is  cause  of  the 
determination  of  puberty.  It  also  shows  the  embryonic 
character  of  the  phenomena  of  puberty  provoked  by  the 
germen. 

Among  the  troubles  due  to  the  presence  of  the  tumor  and 
its  development,  a  notable  nutritive  superactivity  neces- 
sarily figured.  It  may  be  that  this  was  the  gain  of  that 
local  superactivity  which  had  procured  to  the  germen  the 
precocious  power  of  which  it  gave  proof.  A  microscopic 
examination  would  doubtless  have  caused  a  recognition  of 
the  presence  of  spermatozoa  in  the  ducts  of  this  neoplastic 
testicle. 

Puberty  is  then  a  purely  germinal  affair  and  the  matur- 
ity of  the  germen  itself  an  affair  of  nutrition. 

The  observations  of  Dr.  Gandy  prove,  on  their  side,  that 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  attributes  with  which  puberty  has 
endowed  the  soma,  it  is  necessary  that  the  germen  subsist. 
In  the  case  of  Dr.  Sacchi,  the  suppression  of  the  acciden- 
tally mature,  germen  of  the  neoplastic  testicle  carried  along 
with  it  the  disappearance  of  all  the  signs  of  reproductive 
power  prematurely  appeared,  but  did  not  influence  at  all 
the  natural  evolution  of  the  boy  toward  his  normal  puberty, 
because  there  remained  with  the  other  testicle,  a  sound  ger- 
men; while  the  total  suppression  of  the  germen  at  some  mo- 
ment of  the  virile  period  exposes  to  a  turn  backwards,  to 
a  reversion,  that  is,  to  the  loss  of  the  secondary  sexual  char- 
acteristics which  had  accompanied  puberty. 

The  presence  or  the  absence  of  these  characteristics  de- 


Puberty  89 

termines  some  profoundly  different  conditions.  These 
pathological  cases  demonstrate  it  in  a  striking  fashion  by 
reason  of  the  ages  at  which  the  changes  happen,  and  be- 
cause they  appear  without  transition.  But,  under  the  re- 
serve of  transitions,  it  does  not  occur  otherwise  for  well 
children  and  the  difference  is  complete  between  a  child  who 
has  not  reached  puberty  and  a  pubescent  child,  boy  or  girl. 

Some  somatic  conditions  of  psychological  puberty, — an 
example. — Some  years  ago  two  brothers  accompanied  by 
their  parents  presented  themselves  at  my  Tuesday  con- 
sultations. Both  were  seventeen  years  old ;  they  were  twins. 
The  family  was  perplexed.  The  career  of  diplomat  opened 
itself  exceptionally  for  both,  but  only  one  of  the  two  showed 
what  one  might  call  aptitude  for  the  career.  Besides,  the 
differences  between  the  two  brothers  were  many  and  pro- 
found. That  did  not  escape  the  father  and  mother  who 
were  greatly  disturbed  by  it.  Of  those  two  boys,  seven- 
teen years  old,  the  one  bore  himself  like  a  man,  the  other 
like  a  young  vagabond,  and  that  in  everything. 

At  twelve  years,  said  the  father,  his  son  George  had  al- 
ready almost  lost  childish  habits  which  were  observed  in 
James  at  seventeen  years.  They  had  had  him  carefully  ex- 
amined, but  it  was  certified  to  them  that  his  constitution 
was  good,  and  that  his  mental  state  had  nothing  abnormal. 
His  professors  recognized  in  him  real  intelligence  and  a 
quick  memory,  but  they  complained  of  his  extreme  thought- 
lessness. 

The  young  men  having  stripped,  a  thing  which  had  not 
been  done  at  the  preceding  visits  to  the  physician,  the  par- 
ents told  me,  it  was  evident  for  the  father  as  for  me  that 
George  was  pubescent  and  James  was  not.  In  George 
puberty  had  been  reached  at  about  the  age  of  twelve  years. 
That  was  five  years  ago.     George  was  now  an  adult,  while 


90  Growth  During  School  Age 

James,  of  the  same  age  and  size  was  still  only  a  child. 
George  was  nubile,  James  was  not  yet  pubescent. 

I  was  in  the  presence  of  two  individuals  of  the  same  age, 
and  yet  the  one  was  a  man,  and  the  other  was  not  even  a 
young  man  (jeune  homme).  They  were  of  equal  stature 
and  their  weights  were  very  nearly  the  same,  as  was  their 
chest  girth.  What  combination  of  these  three  measures 
was  capable  of  giving  information  on  the  physical  value  of 
these  boys?  They  withstood  in  a  very  unequal  manner 
an  exertion  a  trifle  prolonged ;  not  only  did  the  adult  show 
a  resistance  far  superior,  but  he  was  able,  after  a  short 
rest,  to  resume  the  interrupted  work,  a  thing  which  his  twin 
brother  could  not  do,  who  needed  to  prolong  the  period  of 
rest  in  order  to  rest  his  legs,  his  arms,  and  to  recover  his 
energy. 

The  three  measures,  height,  girth  and  weight  had  taught 
us  nothing  regarding  these  two  young  men,  not  more  con- 
cerning their  physical  worth  than  concerning  the  causes  of 
the  profound  differences  which  held  between  them.  Puberty 
by  itself,  had  already  made  us  better  acquainted  with  them 
and  had  furnished  us  some  instructions  on  the  divergencies 
of  their  two  individualities. 

The  anthropometric,  physiological,  and  clinical  examina- 
tion showed  us  that  the  proportions  in  James  were  still  pre- 
pubescent  proportions,  that  is,  that  they  answered  to  the 
intersegmentary  relations  which  are  met  with  in  children 
who  touch  the  period  of  puberty.  I  thought  that  puberty 
would  arrive  normally,  in  spite  of  its  delay,  by  reason  of  the 
regular  conditions  of  the  general  state,  and  of  the  partial 
evolutions,  on  the  part  of  the  testicles,  and  of  the  teeth, 
etc.  The  cranium  was  proportionally  small,  even  for  a 
macroskele  like  James,  the  limbs  were  too  long,  relatively  to 


Puberty  91 

the  bust,  a  relation  which  of  course  is  proper  on  the  eve  of 
puberty. 

I  was  able  to  say  nothing  of  the  dangers  of  the  unequal 
growth,  because  I  had  not  followed  these  young  boys  since 
the  age  of  eight  or  ten  years  from  semester  to  semester, 
and  because  the  evaluations,  in  this  order  of  ideas,  are  only 
the  result  of  comparison  among  themselves  of  the  dimen- 
sions of  a  like  segment  at  the  successive  semesters. 

The  muscles  were  average,  and  respiration  had  retained 
the  amplitude  of  that  of  childhood;  it  was  more  transversal 
than  vertical,  while  in  the  twin  brother  it  was  more  vertical 
than  transversal,  which  is  an  adult  characteristic. 

I  could,  with  good  conscience,  reassure  the  parents  and 
make  them  foresee  a  transformation  shortly,  a  germinal 
transformation  with  its  somatic  and  cerebral  consequences, 
without,  however,  determining  precisely  its  range  from  the 
point  of  view  of  organic  resources  and  of  energy,  because  I 
had  not  followed  the  boy  since  a  number  of  semesters  before. 

Before  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  puberty  it  was  nec- 
essary to  be  careful  to  make  a  decision  relative  to  his 
[James's]  future  and  not  despair  at  all.  And  in  fact, 
puberty  did  not  delay  in  arriving  and  changing  the  boy  into 
a  man  in  every  way. 

The  orientation  of  ideas  of  this  big  boy,  incontestibly 
intelligent,  had  been  strongly  influenced  by  the  contacts 
which  his  age  and  size  had  imposed  on  him,  with  his  pubes- 
cent comrades.  He  had  lived  their  life,  he  had  wished  to 
do  as  they  did,  he  who  had  not  reached  the  same  phase  of 
evolution  and  did  not  yet  possess  the  genital,  physical,  and 
mental  attributes  with  which  his  comrades  and  even  his  twin 
brother  were  already  endowed.  The  objective  harmoniza- 
tion, the  effort  of  action  had  found  themselves  fatally  in 


92  Growth  During  School  Age 

contradiction  with  the  resources,  with  the  possibilities  of 
this  non-pubescent. 

Separation  of  pubescent s  and  non-pubescent s. — From  like 
circumstances  there  arises  an  evil  which  has,  for  appreci- 
able effect,  instability.  You  conceive  the  danger  to  which 
a  child  is  exposed  who  is  placed  in  the  midst  of  children 
possessing  attributes  which  he  himself  does  not  possess. 
What  vain  efforts  that  provokes  in  him;  what  mental  dis- 
order follows ;  what  tendencies  that  develops  to  seek  out- 
side himself  or  in  reverie  what  he  is  not  able  to  realize  with 
the  means  at  his  disposal,  and  that  towards  which,  never- 
theless, he  is  driven  by  the  examples  about  him  and  by  the 
need  of  raising  himself  up  to  those  who  affect,  in  his  regard, 
some  attractions  of  superiority  which  he  has  hastened  to 
imitate  in  order  to  suffer  no  more  from  it. 

This  example,  which  I  emphasize  in  passing,  indicates  to 
you  already  in  what  sense  psychological  puberty  is  more 
complex  or  perhaps  more  simple  than  it  has  been  described 
and  shows  to  your  cautioned  sagacity  glimpses  of  the  con- 
ditions which  observation  exacts  in  order  to  see  and  under- 
stand thoroughly. 

Pedagogically,  there  is  in  every  case  one  conclusion  which 
is  imposed ;  that  is  the  separation  of  the  pubescents  from 
the  non-pubescents.  Intellectual  culture  as  well  as  moral 
is  interested  in  this  separation. 

Be3Tond  the  kindergarten,  continue  to  keep  together,  if 
you  desire,  girls  and  boys.  But,  by  a  close  co-operation 
with  the  physician  and  enlightened  yourself  by  the  second- 
ary signs,  watch  carefully  for  the  appearance  of  puberty. 
As  soon  as  it  appears  in  a  schoolboy  or  schoolgirl  promote 
this  modified  organism  into  the  category  of  pubescents ;  do 
not  take  account  of  the  age.  Neither  see  any  obstacle  in 
the  multiplication  of  courses.     The  administrative  author- 


Puberty  93 

ity,  having  been  notified,  will  take  the  measures  necessary 
to  render  your  task  possible  in  the  interests  of  the  little  in- 
dividualities which  it  confides  to  you. 

But,  you  sa37,  pubescent  and  non-pubescent  brothers  live 
together  under  the  paternal  roof.  On  this  account,  the 
same  roof  sheltering  permanently  girls  and  boys  in  the  fam- 
ily circle,  of  what  good  are  your  distinct  schools  for  each 
sex?  It  is  because  a  special  sentiment  reigns  at  the  fireside, 
which  is  born  there  and  with  a  special  charm,  it  is  the  senti- 
ment of  protection  owed  to  the  small  by  the  large,  to  the 
young  by  the  older,  to  the  feeble  by  the  strong,  to  the  girl 
by  the  boy.  Outside  of  the  family,  do  not  count  on  it,  while 
applying  yourself  with  all  your  might  to  develop  it  or  to 
nurture  it,  and  do  not  hesitate  to  use,  to  this  end,  puberal 
selection.     Its  effects  are  incalculable. 

The  familiar  imitation  of  family  life  of  Bedales,  of  Ab- 
botsholmes,  in  England,  where  the  professor,  his  wife  and 
their  children  group  around  them  in  an  isolated  dwelling 
some  twenty  scholars,  is  raised  by  a  hundred  cubits  above 
the  best  boarding-schools.  E.  Demolins  understood  this 
point  well  when  he  founded  "PEcole  Nouvelle"  although  he 
was  able  only  to  approach  that  ideal.  But  a  gulf  remains 
between  the  mentality  which  presides  in  fraternal  relations 
and  that  which  presides  in  the  relations  of  scholars  among 
each  other,  even  in  the  bosom  of  these  family  schools. 
Whence  the  necessity,  there  as  elsewhere,  of  puberal  se- 
lection. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PUBERTY     (CONTINUED) 

Duration  of  period  of  puberty;  signs  of  debut;  signs  of  ter- 
mination.— Intcrnubilo-pubcscent  period  or  youth. — 
Distance  from  puberty  to  nubility  or  adult  state. — 
Some  educational  considerations  touching  these  peri- 
ods.— Synthesis  of  the  relations  of  the  reproductive  ele- 
ment and  groxcth;  phases  of  life  in  function  of  repro- 
duction.— Influence  on  growth  of  the  traumatic  sup- 
pression of  the  germen. 

IT  is  not  imagined  by  people  in  general  and  often  not 
even  by  us,  educators  or  physicians,  what  past  a  retarda- 
tion of  the  "formation"  reveals,  and  what  future  it  pre- 
pares for.  There  results  from  it  a  complete  ignorance  of 
the  duties  which  it  imposes,  such  as  the  preparation  for 
puberty,  preparation  for  the  post-puberal  phase,  the  util- 
ization of  the  "educative  moments"  of  the  diverse  organs 
for  general  or  special  physical  or  intellectual  culture. 

Where  then  can  the  educator  get  information  of  the  ex- 
act place  which  puberty  occupies  in  the  evolution  of  the 
child?  Where  can  he  find  notions  relative  to  its  duration, 
to  the  distance  which  separates  it  from  the  adult  age  ?  There 
is  in  the  study  of  this  subject,  however,  some  information 
which  is  far  from  being  indifferent  to  the  direction  of  edu- 
cation, because  it  concerns  the  very  conditions  of  the  influ- 
ence of  puberty.  But  growth  had  not  yet  been  studied  at 
all  from  this  point  of  view  although  one  could  expect  only 

94 


Puberty  95 

* 

from  it  precise  information  on  these  important  questions. 
Now  the  age  of  taking  possession  of  the  organism  by  puberty 
varies  with  each  individual.  The  principle  cause,  we  have 
learned,  is  the  quality  of  placental  nutrition. 

Duration  of  period  of  puberty;  signs  of  debut;  signs  of 
termination. — As  to  the  time  which  puberty  takes  to  install 
itself,  it  is  the  same  in  all  normal  children  almost,  say  two 
years.  At  the  moment  of  appearance,  one  has  noted  down 
for  the  growth  of  the  hair  of  the  pubis  and  of  the  armpits, 
P3  A1.  On  following  the  same  child  one  notes  later  P4  A1, 
then  P4  A2,  finally  P5  A3,  or  A4,  or  A5.  At  this  last  nota- 
tion, P5  A5  (A3  or  A4)  the  installation  of  puberty  is  an  ac- 
complished fact.  Two  years  have  passed  since  the  appear- 
ance, and  if  the  child  was  then  fifteen  and  one-half  years 
old,  he  is  now  seventeen  and  one-half.  During  these  two 
years,  growth  has  progressed  in  a  somewhat  special  man- 
ner under  the  influence  of  the  new  impulsion  which  the  soma 
has  just  received  from  the  germen.  The  rate  of  increase  in 
height  is  a  trifle  lessened,  and  the  child  has  commenced  to  fill 
out,  to  augment  his  dimensions  of  breadth  and  thickness ; 
his  muscles  have  become  stouter,  the  truncal  segment  of  the 
bust,  the  trunk,  where  are  grouped  the  transforming  and 
distributing  visceral  organs,  has  gained  in  amplitude  and 
its  capacity,  which  is  proportionally  reduced  since  birth, 
has  commenced  to  take  up  more  room  in  the  organism. 
From  now  on,  the  trunk  will  not  cease  to  gain  in  extent  un- 
til the  end  of  the  time  of  growth  (v.  "Laws  of  Growth," 
pp.  109  and  116). 

Internubilo- puberal  period  or  youth;  distance  from 
puberty  to  nubility. — Immediately  after  the  closing  of  the 
puberal  phase,  growth  undergoes  a  very  notable  slacken- 
ing, and  it  is  so  much  the  more  obvious  that  it  follows 
closely  the  augmentations  which  characterize  puberty,  the 


96  Growth  During  School  Age 

first  year  of  its  evolution  especially.     Plates  I,  II,  IV,  V, 
XV  and  XVI. 

There  is  a  reduction  of  the  rate  of  increase  but  the  or- 
ganism continues,  however,  to  grow  in  all  directions :  all  the 
dimensions  could  figure  in  a  table  intended  to  make  the  aug- 
mentations of  the  internubilo-puberal  period  stand  out ;  but 
they  would  also  appear  with  the  very  unequal  reductions 
which  have  attended  their  growth,  causing  to  be  presented 
the  changes  which  result  from  it  in  the  proportions  of  the 
body. 

A  few  measurements  answering  to  the  principal  dimen- 
sions of  the  body  are  to  be  compared  to  the  same  measure- 
ments taken  from  the  adult,  and  make  thoroughly  compre- 
hensive the  difference  between  the  state  of  the  child  at  the 
end  of  the  puberal  period  and  his  adult  state.  These  data 
are  grouped  in  the  following  short  table: 

Average  child 

at  the  close      Average 

of  his  puberty  adult      difference 

Weight   (stripped)    56  64            8  kilos 

Breadth    (transversal   chest   dia.) 258  269  11mm. 

Thickness   (anterior-posterior  chest  dia.) 191  199            8    " 

Girth    (max.   thigh   girth) 481  506  25    " 

Height    (stature)    1636  1659  23   " 

At  an  epoch  of  life  when  the  adipose  tissue,  the  fat,  still 
holds  only  a  negligible  place,  in  the  great  majority,  these  8 
kilos  to  be  acquired  represent  an  important  amplification 
of  the  tissues;  the  elongation  of  the  stature  not  having  to 
exceed  23  millimeters,  that  shows  especially,  the  broad  plas- 
ticity, that  is,  breadth,  thickness,  girth  will  gain  in  dimen- 
sion. 

Girth  will  augment  25  millimeters.  The  average  child 
will  then  increase  more  in  girth  than  he  will  grow  in  height 
during  this  period  and  that,  without  appreciable  participa- 


Puberty  97 

tion  of  adipose  tissue.  Embracing  the  entire  period  of  boy- 
hood, it  is  seen  that  the  average  child  between  thirteen  and 
one-half  years  and  the  adult  age,  increases  his  weight  by 
27  kilos,  his  breadth  by  51  mm.,  his  thickness  by  40,  his  girth 
by  96  and  the  length  of  his  upper  limbs  by  a  total  of  115, 
while  his  stature  increases  207  millimeters. 

If  one  compares  to  this  growth  in  volume,  considered  in 
each  category  as  equal  to  100,  each  of  the  annual  increases 
of  this  same  period,  one  will  account  for  the  proportional 
part  of  increase  which  remains  to  be  realized  beyond  seven- 
teen and  one-half  years.  This  table,  which  is  interesting, 
but  offers  a  certain  complexity,  can  be  reduced  to  the  fol- 
lowing approximate  fractions,  which  renders  its  reading 
easy. 

Having  admitted  that,  from  thirteen  and  one-half  years 
to  adult  age,  the  growth  of  the  child  had  to  gain,  in  each 
of  the  directions  considered,  a  certain  number  of  millime- 
ters, and  that,  in  each  of  these  directions,  we  evaluate  at 
100  this  total  gain,  how  many  per  cent  has  the  young  man 
of  seventeen  years  to  acquire  in  order  to  be  an  adult? 

The  pubescent  lad  of  seventeen  years,  in  order  to  be- 
come an  adult  must  gain : 


Weight    29%  or  yz  approx. 

Breadth    21%  or  y5 

Thickness     20%  or  y5 

Girth    26%  or  y4 

Height    11%  or  Vio      " 

Length  of  upper  limbs 23%  or  %       " 

From  the  close  of  puberty  to  adult  age,  weight  has  more 
to  acquire  than  it  has  done  in  the  course  of  the  most  active 
year  between  thirteen  and  eighteen  years.  It  is  wholly  dif- 
ferent with  height  whose  proportional  part  of  growth  to 
be  furnished  is  less  than  that  of  any  one  of  prepuberal  and 
puberal  years.     As  to  the  other  dimensions,  they  have  to 


98  Growth  During  School  Age 

furnish  only  the  proportional  increase  of  a  good  average 
year,  and  they  have  three  years  to  accomplish  that.  In 
effect,  on  taking  account  of  the  progressive  reduction  of  the 
rate  of  growth,  one  comes  to  evaluate  at  three  years,  the 
time  necessary  to  the  completion  of  the  development  of  the 
average  young  man,  that  is,  five  years  from  the  dawn  of 
puberty.  Thus  the  pubescent  boy  (15^2  years)  would  be- 
come an  adult  at  twenty-one  years  (twenty  and  one-half 
years).  That  is  admissible,  for,  in  the  regiment,  it  is  ex- 
ceptional to  observe  any  important  increases  in  size,  ex- 
cluding the  volunteer  recruits  of  eighteen  to  nineteen  years. 
I  have  become  convinced  of  this,  in  measuring  a  great  num- 
ber of  soldiers  on  their  arrival  at  the  corps  and  on  the  eve 
of  their  discharge. 

In  its  turn,  the  soma  has  completed  its  development.  It 
is  here  in  condition  to  give  perfect  co-operation  to  the  ger- 
men,  in  view  of  reproduction;  nubility  is  accomplished, 
physiologically  speaking. 

It  is  the  duty  of  educators  to  distinguish  biological  and 
social  nubility:  "biological  nubility,  so  understood,  is  only 
the  fitness  for  marriage  considered  solely  from  the  biolog- 
ical point  of  view.  From  the  sociological  and  moral  point 
of  view,  marriage  implies  some  conditions  and  a  maturity 
which  render  the  question  of  nubility  much  more  complex 
(Manouvrier)." 

Thus,  then,  puberty  takes  two  years  to  install  itself.  The 
perfecting  of  the  soma,  or  the  internubilo-puberal  period 
lasts  three  years;  it  is  then  a  period  of  five  years  from  the 
moment  of  appearance  of  puberty,  from  P3  A1,  which  is  re- 
quired for  a  young  boy  to  become  a  nubile  man,  an  adult, 
a  reproducer  as  perfect  as  his  individual  condition  will  per- 
mit him  to  be. 

When  you  know  that  the  notation  P3  A1  is  recorded  on 


Puberty  99 

the  individual  record  card  of  your  son,  you  know,  parents, 
that  in  five  years  he  will  be  nubile.  If  he  is  fifteen  and  one- 
half  years  old  when  P3  A1  is  recorded,  at  twenty  and  one- 
half  years  he  will  be  nubile ;  if  he  reaches  P3  A1  at  seventeen 
years  only,  he  will  reach  his  nubility  at  twenty-two  years. 
When,  on  the  contrary,  puberty  dawns  at  twelve  years,  your 
son  will  be  an  adult  at  seventeen  years. 

And  if  you  will  kindly  remember  that  there  is  a  matter 
other  than  a  question  of  physical  development,  a  matter 
other  than  a  purely  somatic  growth,  you  will  recognize  that 
this  question  has  a  claim  to  your  most  diligent  attention. 

Out  of  these  five  years,  stretching  from  the  dawn  of 
puberty  to  the  realization  of  nubility,  the  last  three  espe- 
cially, correspond  to  the  phase  to  which  more  than  any  other, 
the  name  youth  agrees.  The  pubescent  boy  has  become  a 
youth  (jeune  homme). 

In  the  feminine  sex,  according  to  the  authors  and  my 
observations,  the  distance  which  separates  puberty  from 
nubility  can  likewise  be  estimated  at  five  years,  and  it  can 
be  considered  that  the  little  girl  becomes  a  girl  ("jeune 
fille")  two  years  after  the  dawn  of  puberty.  Five  years 
after  the  appearance  of  the  first  menses,  the  girl  is  nubile; 
she  is  a  woman. 

Some  educational  considerations  touching  these  periods. 
— Young  people  are  morally  and  cerebrally,  on  the  morrow 
after  puberty,  what  the  struggle  which  takes  place  within 
them,  makes  them.  In  animals,  most  often,  the  internubilo- 
puberal  period  does  not  exist.  When  the  animal  is  "ma- 
ture" he  is  at  once  pubescent  and  nubile.  There  are,  how- 
ever, some  exceptions. 

The  phase  of  youth  ought  to  be  the  triumph  of  education ; 
it  can  be  the  failure  of  it.  It  is  necessary  that  the  prepara- 
tion of  education  should  have  been  such  that,  in  the  young 


100  Growth  During  School  Age 

man,  everything  tends  to  perfect  his  individual  resources  in 
the  precise  direction  of  the  position  which  he  wishes  to  oc- 
cupy in  society,  while  his  soma  itself  completes  the  perfec- 
tion which  a  reproductive  function  useful  to  the  race  ex- 
acts. "Youth"  pronounces  judgment  on  the  education  of 
the  child.  It  is  the  cross-road  where  temperament,  educa- 
tion and  life  meet.  It  depends  in  great  part  on  education 
whether  youth  be  knocked  about  and  onerous  or  made  har- 
monious and  pleasant. 

Synthesis  of  the  relations  of  the  reproductive  element  and 
growth. — The  puberal  phase  is,  as  we  have  just  seen,  a  time 
of  human  development  in  which  the  germinal  power  orien- 
tates all  the  forces  of  the  organism  towards  the  function  of 
reproduction.  It  had  impressed  a  first  general  impulse 
from  the  time  of  the  egg.  Twelve  or  fifteen  years  later,  it 
gives  a  second  more  special  impulse.  The  soma  is  consti- 
tuted and  the  objective  is  approached,  but  the  impulse  is 
analagous. 

In  reality,  the  evolution  of  the  reproductive  function 
holds  under  its  dependence  the  entire  life  of  the  soma.  It 
imposes  upon  it  (the  soma)  its  natural  phases  by  the  setting 
which  it  gives  these  phases. 

On  page  103  is  a  table  of  it,  the  relations  of  the  phases  of 
life  with  the  function  of  reproduction,  in  which  it  is  seen 
that  to  each  of  the  periods  of  evolution  of  the  germen  cor- 
responds a  period  so  strongly  characteristic  of  life  that  it 
is  impossible  to  represent  it  to  one's  self  otherwise  de- 
limited. 

Growth  has  made  us  acquainted  with  the  effects  of  the 
puberal  impulse  stamped  upon  the  soma  by  the  germen. 
It  has  shown  us  what  the  soma  had  to  pass  over  in  order  to 
realize  the  best  conditions  of  which  it  might  be  capable  in 
its  role  of  agent  of  the  function  of  reproduction. 


Puberty  101 


Influence  upon  growth  of  the  traumatic  suppression  of  the 
germen  {eunuch). — We  should  be  interested  in  knowing 
what  occurs,  how  the  soma  behaves  when  the  germen  disap- 
pears before  the  puberal  age,  and  what,  consequently,  pub- 
erty does  not  do. 

We  see  the  result  in  the  eunuch,  and  particularly  in  those 
Skoptzy,  coachmen,  of  whom  Pittard  speaks  in  his  impor- 
tant studies  on  the  anthropometric  modifications  effected  by 
castration  {Modifications  anthropometriques  apportees  par 
las  castration.  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  des  Sciences  de 
Bucharest,  nos.  3-4;  1903). —  ".  .  .  Others  go  to  Jassy  or 
to  Bucharest  to  follow  the  calling  of  coachmen  .  .  .  ;  they 
are  recognized  very  easily  by  their  bloated,  smooth  face,  by 
their  woman's  voice.  .  .  .  When  they  are  seated  on  the  box 
of  their  carriage,  one  can  only  with  difficulty  imagine  their 
stature.  It  is  because  their  stature  is  made  up  principally 
of  the  exaggerated  length  of  the  legs.  At  several  returns," 
continues  Dr.  Pittard,  "we  have  received  the  hospitality 
of  the  Skoptzy,  either  in  1901  or  in  1902,  hospitality,  more- 
over, limited  to  a  few  meals  taken  while  we  were  examining 
them.  We  had  been  struck  by  the  tall  stature  of  the  most 
of  them,  by  their  smooth,  fresh  face,  their  feminine  voice, 
the  softness  of  their  skin  which  at  the  same  time  presented 
an  aspect  of  freshness,  of  youthfulness,  and  of  suppleness. 
Nearly  all  wore  long,  straight,  dark  hair,  falling  in  locks 
down  over  the  countenance.  In  order  to  honor  us,  they 
had  done  their  hair  over  with  pomade  or  oil.  Their  hands 
were  delicate,  tapering,  and  supple,  like  the  hands  of  a 
woman"  {loc.  cit.,  p.  182,  183). 

Here  were  some  adults  who  presented  in  an  exaggerated 
fashion,  the  proportions  of  a  child  on  the  eve  of  puberty; 
seated  they  had  the  aspect  of  children  by  the  slight  height 
of  the  part  of  their  body  which  rises  above  the  seat,  as  well 


102  Growth  During  School  Age 

as  by  their  visage  of  which  Pittard  emphasized  the  appear- 
ance, fresh  ("poupine").  Erect,  they  were  adults,  at  least 
in  stature.  From  infancy,  the  soma  appeared  to  be  modi- 
fied only  b}r  the  elongation  of  the  limbs ;  the  aspect  of  the 
visage,  the  absolute  length  of  the  trunk,  the  condition  of  the 
skin  had  not  changed. 

Pittard  emphasizes  the  inferiority  of  the  volume  of  the 
brain  in  these  men,  of  Russian  (Petits  Russiens)  descent, 
compared  to  the  volume  of  the  brain  of  their  kindred,  not 
emasculated.  The  action  of  the  germen,  its  influence  upon 
growth  is  then  demonstrated  to  us  by  the  modifications 
which  this  action  undergoes  in  its  absence.  If,  with  numer- 
ous modern  authors,  one  attributes  the  elongation  of  the 
bones,  to  hypophysis,  the  hyperactivity  of  this  gland  to  in- 
ternal secretion,  manifesting  itself  in  the  eunuch  only  after 
castration,  will  itself  represent  an  effect  of  the  suppression 
of  the  germen.  Besides,  one  will  be  able  to  determine  with 
precision  the  results  of  the  prepuberal  suppression  of  the 
germen  only  in  subjects  emasculated  before  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  and  better  before  the  age  of  six  years,  the  end 
of  the  first  period  of  post-foetal  evolution,  then  followed 
from  semester  to  semester  with  all  the  resources  of  the  aux- 
anological  method. 

The  observations  and  experimentations  on  animals  with 
which  I  have  occupied  myself  a  long  time  in  accordance  with 
the  counsels  which  Professor  Milne-Edwards  had  very 
kindly  given  me  in  1896,  have  furnished  me  some  interesting 
results,  but  they  are  applicable  to  the  human  species  only 
with  great  reservation. 


Puberty 


103 


PHASES  OF  LIFE 


IN  FUNCTION  OF  THE  REPRODUCTIVE  ELEMENT 


J 


the  germen 

issue  of  reproduction. 

Period  constitutive  of  the  elements 

of  seminal  offspring 
The  seminal  offspring   finishes  its 
constitution  and  vegetates 

(birth). 

Agenital  life,  sleep  of  the  germen. 

The  seminal  offspring  completes 

its  evolution,  awakening  of  the 

germen: 

PUBERTY 

Internubilo-puberal    period. 

The  mature  germen  awaits  the 
maturity  of  the  soma.  Matur- 
ing of  the  somatic  factor  of  re- 
production.    Nubility. 

Fulness   of   reproductive   function 
Extinction      of      seminal      off- 


EMBRYO-FOETAL 
PHASE 


INFANCY 


T   1 


YOUTH 


ADULT  PHASE 


m 


spring    .... 
Agerminal  life 


OLD  AGE 


Continuity 

of  the  life  of  the 

germen  by  the  descendant. 

^he   term    adolescence   is    admitted    to   designate    the   last   phase    of 
infancy,  the   peri-puberal  phase. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SOME     LAWS     OF     GROWTH 

Laws  and  method. — Make-up  of  the  laws  of  growth. — Law 
of  alternation. — Laws  of  puberty. — Laws  of  propor- 
tion.— Principle  of  irregular  puberal  growth. — 
Resume  and  formulas  of  the  laws  of  growth. 

THE  laws  and  the  method  in  matter  of  growth. — Buf- 
fon  had  formulated  a  general  law  of  growth  in  length 
which  all  observations  since  have  confirmed.  "There  is  some- 
thing quite  remarkable  in  the  growth  of  the  human  body,"  he 
wrote ;  "the  foetus  in  the  mother's  womb  grows  constantly 
more  and  more  until  the  moment  of  birth;  the  child,  on  the 
contrary,  grows  constantly  less  and  less  until  the  age  of 
puberty." 

The  law  of  Buffon  is  one  of  the  rare  ones  which,  only  con- 
sidering the  height,  is  applicable  to  the  development  of  the 
whole  body.  That  is  due  to  its  very  generality.  Some 
other  authors  have  treated  the  very  notable  elongation 
which  precedes  puberty;  but  they  do  not  fix  the  moment  of 
the  appearance  of  puberty. 

The  sexual  differences  of  growth  of  height  have  given 
place  to  some  divergence  of  opinion,  such  that  it  is  no  longer 
permissible  to  formulate  any  general  rule  as  to  the  rhythm 
of  elongation.  That  is  not  much  to  be  regretted,  the  height 
being  considered  alone.  That  was,  however,  to  be  foreseen, 
and  it  will  be  so,  as  long  as  the  simultaneous,  hasty  method 
will  be  substituted  for  the  scientific  method,  so  long  as  the 

104 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  105 

observer  will  not  take  the  time  and  the  pains  to  follow  the 
same  children  and  to  take  on  each  of  them  all  the  useful 
measurements  and  notations  patiently  repeated  at  each 
semester. 

Let  us  recall  that,  for  want  of  using  this  method  and  in 
taking  the  stature  as  the  criterion  of  growth,  should  the 
measurement  of  height  be  accompanied  by  that  of  chest  girth 
and  weight,  one  is  infallibly  led  to  this  conclusion  at  least 
strange,  that  among  the  finest  specimens  of  which  human 
kind  can  pride  itself,  the  eunuch  occupies  a  place  of  honor. 

Eunuchs  of  180  cm.  are  not  rare,  their  habitual  embon- 
point assures  them  large  figures  for  chest  girth  and  weight. 
So  that  in  a  table  where  height,  girth  and  weight  in  view  of 
an  appreciation  of  physical  value,  and  whatever  other  com- 
binations imagined  by  means  of  these  three  numerical  ex- 
pressions, might  be  recorded,  the  most  of  these  infirm  people 
would  appear  as  excellent  recruits. 


But,  and  this  is  serious,  to  what  phenomena  has  the  method 
of  unique,  simultaneous  examination  at  the  diverse  ages,  and 
reduced  to  some  measurements,  to  what  phenomena  of  the 
development  of  the  being  would  it  have  helped  us?  What 
rhythm  would  it  have  enabled  us  to  understand?  What 
general  rules  would  it  have  led  us  to  formulate? 

It  belonged  to  the  periodical  and  polymetric  method,  to 
what  we  have  called  the  auxanological,  in  order  to  group 
around  its  object,  growth,  its  physiological,  clinical,  and 
anthropometrical  resources,  it  was  reserved  to  the  auxano- 
logical methods  to  make  these  observations,  to  disengage 
the  rhythm  of  growth,  to  investigate  the  explanations  of 
it  and  to  infer  some  general  rules  from  it.  It  belonged  to 
this  method  to  make  the  departure  between  true  growth  and 


106  Growth  During  School  Age 

what  has  been  too  long  considered  as  its  expression,  to  de- 
termine a  certain  number  of  variations  and  to  verify  some 
of  their  causes. 

Make-up  of  the  laws  of  growth. — Be  careful  not  to  infer 
from  this  that  the  rhythms  of  growth  are  all  semestral. 
However,  when  Buffon  directed  the  measurements  of  M. 
Gueneau  de  Montbeillard,  he  had  seen  that  the  semester  cor- 
responds to  a  certain  number  of  rhythms,  and  he  caused  oth- 
ers to  see  it. 

The  law  of  alternation. — And  now,  let  us  try  to  render 
ourselves  an  account  of  how  the  facts  lead  to  a  law  of 
growth,  taking,  for  example,  the  law  of  alternation.  The 
multiple  measurements,  which  are  evidently  laborious,  pro- 
cure at  least  some  large  scientific  compensation.  They  per- 
mit, for  each  half-year,  the  reconstituting  of  the  segments 
with  their  absolute  dimensions.  In  calculating  their  rela- 
tions to  each  other,  one  can  establish  their  relative  dimen- 
sions, and  know  on  which  segment  of  the  bust  or  the  limbs, 
the  process  of  growth  has  borne  with  the  greatest  activity, 
in  the  course  of  the  semester  at  the  end  of  which  the  child 
is  measured.  This  is  applied  to  increases  in  thickness  and 
breadth  as  to  increases  in  length. 

Segmental  growth  corresponds  to  the  increase  of  a  small 
group  of  bones,  and,  for  the  segments  of  limbs,  to  that  of  a 
long  isolated  bone,  like  the  thigh  or  arm,  or  to  that  of  two 
long  twin  bones  as  the  leg  and  the  forearm.  The  elonga- 
tion of  one  of  these  segments  represents,  consequently,  the 
elongation  of  the  corresponding  long  bone,  of  the  femur  or 
of  the  tibia  and  fibula,  of  the  humerus  or  of  the  radius  and 
ulna. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  ankle  or  wrist,  the  muscles  are  re- 
duced to  their  tendons,  very  often  bound  in  the  grooves  of 
the  bones.     At  this  point,  the  thickness  measured  is  a  thick- 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  107 

ness  of  bone,  relative  to  the  muscular  thickness  which  repre- 
sents the  maximal  circumference  of  the  segment. 

I  compared,  in  1897,  the  changes  which  had  taken  place 
in  the  segments  of  limbs  of  the  children  of  "PEcole  des  An- 
delys,"  measured  during  seven  semesters  with  those  of  which 
the  homologous  segments  had  been  the  basis  in  the  pupils  of 
"l'Ecole  de  St-Hyppolyte-du-Fort,"  seeking  to  determine 
the  influence  of  the  very  different  climate  of  these  two  lo- 
calities. 

I  believed  at  first  I  would  have  to  consider  erroneous  the 
first  results  of  the  calculations  which  showed  the  growth  in 
bulk  at  another  semester  than  the  elongation,  or  at  least, 
which  made  the  minima  of  the  elongation  correspond  to  the 
maxima  of  increase  in  bulk.  Presently  the  precision  which 
this  fact  took  by  the  side  of  the  bones  of  the  leg  and  of  the 
forearm,  throughout  the  comparison  of  the  results  of  the 
same  order  in  the  two  schools,  showed  me  that  there  was  no 
error  nor  exception  there,  an'i  that  the  increase  in  bulk  was 
effected  with  activity  only  when  the  activity  of  elongation 
had  slackened. 

I  noted  carefully  this  observation  without  attaching  to 
it  at  the  time  any  general  import.  In  1900  I  worked  up 
the  part  of  my  researches  destined  to  the  making-up  of  my 
work  on  the  growth  of  the  diverse  parts  of  the  body  in  the 
average  child.  The  individual  repetition  of  the  same  rela- 
tions and  the  striking  comparisons  of  the  semestral  in- 
creases in  length  and  thickness  of  a  like  segment  of  the  aver- 
age child,  imposed  themselves  upon  me  with  the  validity  of 
a  principle,  namely,  the  elongation  and  increase  in  thickness 
are  not  simultaneous,  but  alternative. 

The  average  adolescent  put  thus  in  relief  the  opposing 
rhythm  of  the  elongation  of  two  long  consecutive  bones ; 
when  the  femur  elongated  the  tibia  grew  in  thickness,  and 


108  Growth  During  School  Age 

when  the  femur  grew  in  thickness,  the  tibia  elongated.  It 
was  not  a  question  of  suppression  of  the  elongation  when 
the  growth  of  thickness  was  taking  place,  but  of  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  rate  of  elongation  and  vice  versa.  The  rhythm 
of  this  growth  of  bones  was,  besides,  semestral. 

One  hundred  children  followed  from  semester  to  semes- 
ter, of  thirteen  to  eighteen  }Tears,  contributed  their  meas- 
urements for  the  making  up  of  the  average.  After  them, 
one  hundred-thirty  others,  followed  in  the  same  fashion, 
formed  the  reserve,  the  check  to  the  circumstance. 

Nothing  in  the  facts  gathered  could  be  charged  as  fortui- 
tous, and  I  was,  without  being  able  to  doubt  it,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  general  rule.  The  result  of  the  working  up  of  my 
researches  demonstrated  to  me  the  biological  import  of  this 
law,1  from  which  arose  directly  or  indirectly  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  phenomena  of  growth  springing  from  the  ob- 
servation counted  or  noted  down. 

That  fact  led  of  itself  to  diverse  formulas : 

Lengthening  of  two  consecutive  long  bones.  The  periods 
of  activitv  and  of  rest  which  succeed  each  other  at  half- 
year  intervals  in  the  increase  in  length  of  a  long  bone  are 
opposed  for  two  consecutive  long  bones  of  a  like  limb. 

Lengthening  and  thickening  of  a  long  bone.  The  rests 
and  the  elongation  are  utilized  by  the  increase  in  thickness 
and  vice  versa.  The  long  bone  grows  in  thickness  and  elon- 
gates alternately  and  not  simultaneously. 

It  is  accepted  that  osseous  growth  is  subject  to  alterna- 
tions. The  alternations  with  their  irregularities  are,  for 
the  development  of  the  body,  one  of  the  characteristics  of 

1  See  on  the  subject  of  "The  Law  of  Alternation,"  pages  107,  108,  111, 
119,  120,  122,  123,  127,  128,  134,  175  and  176  of  my  Recherches  anthro- 
pometriques  sur  la  croissance  des  diverses  parties  du  corps,  224  pp. 
Paris,  Maloine,  pub.  1902-1903. 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  109 

biological   progression,   which    they    differentiate    from    the 
arithmetical  progression  of  Quetelet. 

The  alternations  do  not  depend  upon  the  seasons.  The 
first  law  demonstrates,  in  fact,  that  the  half-yearly  peri- 
odicity does  not  imply  any  seasonal  influence.  With  still 
more  reason,  the*  seasons  do  not  have  any  influence  on  the 
alternations  which  escape  this  periodicity. 

The  alternations  undergo  a  preponderant  influence  on  the 
part  of  puberty. 

The  half-year  represents  the  average  duration  of  alterna- 
tion of  a  great  number  of  increases  in  growth.  Puberty  is 
the  center  around  which  the  great  alternations  evolve. 

Laws  of  puberty. — We  have  seen  that  the  reproductive 
element,  the  germen,  had  a  considerable  influence  on  the 
effects  of  growth  and  that  it  has  no  equal  except  that  influ- 
ence which  the  germen  exercises  on  the  somatic  offspring 
from  the  ovule. 

At  the  present  time,  it  is  a  question  of  the  influence  of 
the  germen  on  the  secondary  causes  of  growth. 

A  certain  number  of  laws  of  puberty  are  dependent  upon 
the  more  general  law  of  alternation. 

Bust  and  lower  limbs. — Height  owes  the  greatest  part  of  j 
its  development   before  puberty,   to   the  lower  limbs,   after  ^ 
puberty,  to  the  bust.     Plate  X,  A. 

This  fact  finds  its  explanation  and  its  cause  in  the  phe- 
nomena of  augmented  growth  and  of  reduced  growth  which 
we  have  just  carefully  studied.  We  have  seen,  in  fact,  that 
puberty  favored  the  auxanological  activity  of  the  connective 
tissues  and  reduced,  on  the  contrary,  the  growth  of  car- 
tilaginous tissues.  The  cartilaginous  organs  consequently 
offer  an  activity  of  growth  much  less  and  for  some  almost 
none,  beginning  with  the  period  of  puberty;  the  connective 


110  Growth  During  School  Age 

cartilage  undergoes  like  the  others  this  puberal  influence, 
and  the  elongation  of  the  long  bones  which  proceeds  from 
it  feels  the  effects  of  it  directly.  By  the  contrary,  the  or- 
gans which  grow  by  the  connective  tissue,  augment  their 
dimensions.  This  is  the  case  of  the  growth  in  thickness  of 
the  long  bones  which  is  secured  by  the  periosteum.  We  are 
able  to  generalize  these  remarks  and  say: 

The  osteogenic  periosteal  activity  of  the  cartilage,  domi- 
nated by  the  osteogenic  activity  of  the  cartilage  before 
puberty,  prevails  over  it  after  puberty. 

Whence  this  corollary  is  derived: 

Elongation  and  increase  in  thickness  of  bones :  The  prog- 
ress of  elongation  of  the  bones  excels  before  puberty;  the 
*  progress  of  increase  in  thickness  of  the  bones  excels  during 
and  after  puberty. 

How  then  is  it  possible  not  to  foresee  the  puberal  rela- 
tions of  increase  of  height  and  of  weight  which  result  log- 
ically from  what  precedes? 

The  principal  peripuberal  increases  of  height  are  pro- 
duced during  the  three  semesters  which  precede  puberty;  the 
principal  peripuberal  increases  of  weight  take  place  during 
the  three  semesters  which  follow.     Plate  X,  B. 

Among  the  tissues  whose  rate  of  growth  is  augmented  by 
the  intervention  of  puberty,  figures  the  muscular  tissue.  The 
contrast  with  the  increase  in  length  of  the  osseous  tissue  is 
clearly  marked;  and  as  the  elongation  is  the  most  easily  ap- 
preciable of  the  manifestation  of  growth  of  bones,  one  can 
express  this  fact  in  the  terms  which  I  used  in  1902:  growth 
is  above  all  osseous  before  puberty  and  above  all  muscular 
after  it.     Plate  X,  C. 

One  of  the  total  growths  which  the  germen  at  the  mo- 
ment of  perfection  of  the  evolution  of  its  offspring  pro- 
vokes, bears  on  the  hair.     The  appearance  of  these  organs, 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  111 

destined  to  replace  the  down,  precedes  by  a  trifle  the  dawn 
of  puberty*  itself.  The  hairs  are  multiplied  during  the 
course  of  the  appearance  of  puberty,  and  until  the  puberal 
phase  is  completed  or,  at  least,  at  this  time,  the  hairs  of  the 
pubis  and  of  the  armpits  have  become  as  tufted  as  they  are 
going  to  be,  and,  if  the  fleece  continues  to  grow  thicker,  it 
is  outside  of  these  two  regions. 

Observation  by  the  auxanological  method  has  permitted 
of  establishing  the  relations  between  the  shoot  of  the  hairs 
and  the  evolution  of  puberty;  it  has  also  permitted  their 
formulation  with  precision. 

Shoot  of  the  hairs  and  puberty:  The  debut  of  the  shoot 
of  pubic  hairs  P1  precedes  by  three  semesters,  on  an  average, 
the  dawn  of  puberty  P3  A1. 

In  the  two  sexes,  the  debut  of  the  shoot  of  the  hairs  of  the 
armpits  corresponds  almost  exactly  to  the  dawn  of  puberty. 

Now,  A1  which  expresses  it,  corresponds  to  P3,  so  that 
this  is  one  of  the  effects  itself  of  puberty,  namely,  a  total 
growth,  which  reveals  it  to  the  observer.  It  is  not  a  question 
of  coincidence  but  a  relation  of  cause  to  effect,  which  ex- 
plains the  constancy  of  the  relation  between  the  phenome- 
non itself  and  its  exterior  manifestation. 

The  end  of  the  shoot  of  the  hairs,  on  the  pubis  and  in  the 
arm-pits,  that  is,  the  moment  when  the  fleece,  observed  half- 
yearly,  has  attained  its  greatest  degree  of  density,  is  noted 
by  P5  A5  and  that  corresponds  to  the  end  of  the  establishing 
of  puberty. 

The  end  of  puberty,  its  duration.  P5  A6  which  marks 
the  end  of  the  puberal  phase,  survives  four  semesters  (about 
two  years)  after  P3  A1. 

The  comparison  which  leads  to  the  noting  of  the  succes- 
sive powers  of  P  and  of  A,  is  made  between  the  condition 
in  the  present  semester  and  the  condition  in  the  preceding 


112  Growth  During  School  Age 

semester  of  the  pubic  fleece  or  that  of  the  arm-pit  in  the 
same  child,  which  gives  a  relative  value  to  it,  but  exclusively 
individual.  The  density  of  the  hair  answering  to  P5  A5 
in  a  child,  can  represent  only  the  value  P4  A2  in  another. 

Consequently,  as  soon  as  one  perceives  the  hair  on  the 
pubis,  he  can  consider  that  the  dawn  of  puberty  will  take 
place  in  three  semesters,  two  years  at  the  most.  From  the 
time  when  P3  A1  is  noted  in  a  boy,  it  is  necessary  to  count 
about  two  years  before  he  will  have  passed  the  puberal  period 
and  attained  the  notation  P5  A5.  And  three  years  will  have 
to  elapse  in  order  that  the  internubilo-puberal  period  termi- 
nate in  nubilitv,  and  realize  the  conditions  which  constitute 
the  adult  state. 

Whence  this  law: 

Place  of  puberty  in  the  evolution  of  growth.  Twelve  to 
seventeen  years  separate  puberty  from  birth.  Two  years 
suffice  for  puberty  to  establish  itself,  beyond  which  three 
years  are  necessary  in  order  to  attain  to  nubility. 

In  consequence,  puberty  in  its  relations  with  the  evolu- 
tion of  growth,  shows  no  variation  except  in  the  time  of 
its  appearance.  When  puberty  dawns,  the  child  finds  him- 
self five  years  from  his  nubility,  the  condition  of  his  adult 
state. 

A  girl  who  reaches  puberty  at  seventeen  is  nubile,  is  mar- 
riageable only  at  twenty-two  years.  While  another,  her  sis- 
ter perhaps,  in  whom  the  appearance  of  puberty  occurred  at 
the  age  of  twelve  years,  has  already  effected  her  nubility 
at  seventeen  years.  The  latter  is  already  a  woman  when 
the  other  is  still  only  a  child.  It  is  the  same  for  the  mas- 
culine  sex  as  the  case  of  the  twin  brothers  has  shown. 

The  difference  is  considerable  between  twelve  and  seven- 
teen years,  and  these  differences,  especially  in  two  sisters, 
are  not  explicable,  unless  the  cause  is  acknowledged  which 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  113 

I  indicated  in  a  memorandum  to  the  Academy  of  Science  of 
November  13,  1911,  and  was  considered  above;  I  mean  the 
quality  of  placental  alimentation.  We  saw  that  the  one 
of  the  two  twin  brothers  best  nourished  in  the  palcenta,  de- 
veloped the  first.  It  appears  then  that  one  were  warranted 
in  believing  that :  Puberty  is  precocious  or  tardy  according 
to  the  quality  of  alimentation  by  the  placenta. 

The  subsiding  which  is  operative  in  the  rate  of  growth  in 
height  from  the  semester  which  immediately  precedes  pub- 
erty, and  which  besides  will  only  cause  itself  to  be  accen- 
tuated, has  been  interpreted  by  authors  as  a  gathering  itself 
up  of  the  organism  on  the  eve  of  the  great  effort  which  it  is 
going  to  make.  We  are  now  prepared  to  interpret  this  fact 
physiologically  and  anatomically  and  to  consider  it  as  a  case 
of  the  law  of  alternation,  a  case  susceptible  of  being  pre- 
dicted by  him  who  is  informed  on  the  influence  of  the  germen 
upon  the  growth  of  the  divers  tissues,  by  him  who  knows 
that  the  articular  cartilages  like  the  others  lose  at  this  mo- 
ment the  major  part  of  their  activity  of  growth,  and  that, 
consequently,  the  long  bones,  either  quite  cease  to  grow  in 
length,  or  indeed  reduce  considerably  their  growth  in  this 
direction.  The  reduction  of  the  increase  of  stature  has  no 
other  cause  at  this  epoch. 

Perhaps  the  term  "gathering  up"  (recueillement)  is  not 
fitted  to  an  organism  whose  most  important  part,  the  trunk 
as  well  as  the  neck,  has  no  tendency  to  reduce  its  growth, 
and  on  the  contrary,  begins  to  grow  (grossir)  very  actively. 

It  is  a  question  of  an  alternation  in  the  increases  as  one 
observes  when  he  follows  a  child  from  semester  to  semester, 
certain  increases  of  length  giving  place  to  others  of  the  same 
direction,  either  to  some  increases  in  breadth  or  to  some  in 
thickness.  However  that  may  be,  the  organism  remains  too 
active  to  be  a  question  of  "gathering  up."     That  shows  once 


114  Growth  During  School  Age 

more  how  little  the  stature  represents  the  growth  of  the  hu- 
man organism,  and  to  what  errors  of  interpretation  it  can 
lead. 

From  all  the  foregoing  we  conclude:  The  phase  which 
immediately  precedes  puberty  does  not  differ  from  other 
phases  of  growth  in  balanced  children,  and  at  this  moment  as 
at  others,  the  organism  takes  only  partial  repose,  conform- 
ably to  the  law  of  alternation. 

Changes  of  puberal  coloration.  Hair.  Puberty  renders 
the  coloration  of  the  hair  darker  in  28  cases  out  of  100. 
Skin.  Puberty  causes  the  appearance  of  a  brown  pigment 
on  the  skin  of  the  perigenital  parts  of  the  body  in  30  cases 
out  of  100.  Eyes.  63  cases  out  of  100  modify  the  color 
of  the  eyes  (coloration  of  the  pigment  of  the  iris)  at  the  mo- 
ment of  puberty;  in  18  cases  out  of  100  it  becomes  darker; 
in  45  cases  out  of  100  it  becomes  lighter. 

Laws  of  proportions. — This  question  was  taken  up  al- 
ready in  Chapter  III,  and  we  shall  have  for  use  the  study 
of  the  proportions  at  the  time  of  the  making  up  of  the  "in- 
dividual formula."  We  here  again  find  the  dominating  in- 
fluence of  alternation  and  that  of  puberty. 

There  are  three  phases  in  the  evolution  of  the  variations 
presented  by  the  proportions  of  length  and  of  breadth  of 
body.  The  first  from  birth  to  six  years;  the  second  from  six 
to  fifteen  years;  the  third  from  fifteen  years  to  adult  age. 
Plates  I  and  V. 

//  the  proportional  increase  is  superior  to  that  of  stature 
for  one  segment  of  the  body,  it  is  inferior  to  it  for  the  seg- 
ment situated  immediately  below  or  above.  There  is  there  a 
novel  aspect  of  the  law  of  alternation  which  can  be  ex- 
pressed in  a  more  general  fashion :  The  law  of  alternation 
governs  the  proportional  increases  of  the  segments  of  the 
body,  as  it  governs  their  absolute  increases. 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  115 

The  variations  of  the  proportions  of  length  and  of 
breadth  of  the  body  are  profoundly  modified  by  puberty 
which  subjects  them  to  the  laws  of  orientation  and  aug- 
mentation. 

Such  segment  which  progresses  relatively  more  than  the 
stature  until  puberty  falls  behind  beyond  the  puberal  age: 
this  is  the  case  of  the  pelvic  members.  Such  other  segment 
which  falls  behind  the  stature  before  puberty  gains  on  it 
when  puberty  is  crossed.  So  then:  Puberty  has  a  decisive 
influence  on  the  direction  of  the  variations  of  the  proportions 
of  length  and  of  breadth. 

The  proportions  of  breadth,  in  general,  present  their  own 
variations  which  are  in  correlation  with  those  of  the  propor- 
tions of  length  of  the  trunk. 

The  reduction  of  the  proportions  to  height  of  the  visceral 
cavity  reaches  its  extreme  limit  at  puberty. 


Principle  of  irregular  growth. — Among  the  puberal  laws, 
there  is  one  of  them  which  derives  directly  from  the  embryo- 
genie  power  of  which  puberty  gives  proof;  I  mean  the 
principle  of  irregular  growth,  in  its  physiological  role  and 
in  its  eventual  pathological  role. 

The  effects  of  irregular  increase  are  subject  to  the  law  of 
alternation  and  remain  physiological. 

As  soon  as  a  cause  makes  irregular  increase  escape  from 
the  law  of  alternation,  its  effects  are  in  danger  of  becoming 
pathological. 

Besides  traumatism,  infection,  intoxication,  neoplastic 
production,  etc.,  poor  prefoetal,  foetal,  and  postfoetal  ali- 
mentation retain  a  preponderant  influence. 

Before  leaving  this  important  question  of  laws  of  growth 
which  must  be  present  in  your  mind  in  the  course  of  your 


116  Growth  During  School  Age 

observation  of  the  child  and  of  your  direction  of  education, 
I  believe  I  ought  to  give  you  a  resume  of  them  with  concise 
formulations. 

RESUME 

I.   LAWS  RELATIVE  TO  THE  ALTERNATIONS  OF  GROWTH 

1.  Long  bones  grow  in  thickness  and  lengthen  alternately 
and  not  simultaneously.  The  periods  of  repose  in  elonga- 
tion are  utilized  by  the  growth  in  thickness  (1  and  32), 
Plate  X,  D. 

2.  The  periods  of  activity  and  repose  which  succeed  each 
other  half-yearly  in  the  increase  in  length  of  a  long  bone 
are  opposite  for  two  long  bones  consecutive  in  the  same  limb 
(1  and  3),  Plate  X,  C  and  D. 

3.  The  half-year  represents  the  average  duration  of  al- 
ternation of  a  great  number  of  increases ;  thus  a  long  bone 
grows  in  thickness  during  six  months  more  than  it  length- 
ens; then  it  lengthens  during  the  following  six  months  more 
than  it  grows  in  thickness. 

The  great  alternations  evolve  around  puberty.     (3.) 

4.  Height  owes  the  greatest  part  of  its  development,  be- 
f/ fore  puberty  to  the  lower  limbs,  after  puberty  to  the  bust 

(1  and  3),  Plate  X,  A. 

5.  The  principal  peripuberal  increases  in  height  are  pro- 
duced during  the  two  semesters  which  precede  the  dawn  of 
puberty.  The  principal  peripuberal  increases  of  weight 
take  place  during  the  very  semester  of  the  dawn  of  puberty 
and  during  the  two  semesters  which  follow  (1  and  3),  Plate 
X,  B. 

6.  Growth  is  especially  of  the  bones  before  puberty  and 
above  all  of  the  muscles  after  puberty  (1  and  3),  Plate  X,  C. 

2  Figures  refer  to  publications,  p.  120. 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  117 


II.   LAWS  RELATIVE  TO  PUBERTY 

The  germen  is  the  continuous  axis  of  life  around  which 
gravitate,  partially  alternate,  organization  and  disorgan- 
ization. 

1.  Puberty  is  the  key  of  growth. 

2.  The  debut  of  the  shoot  of  the  pubic  hairs  P1  precedes 
by  three  semesters  on  an  average  the  dawn  of  puberty  P3  A1. 

3.  In  the  masculine  sex,  the  debut  of  the  shoot  of  the 
hairs  in  the  arm-pits  corresponds  to  the  dawn  of  puberty 
(1).  In  the  feminine  sex,  it  appeared  with  a  slight  retarda- 
tion upon  the  first  menstruation  according  to  Dr.  Martha 
Francillon. 

4.  P5  A5  which  mark  the  end  of  the  puberal  phase,  occur 
four  semesters  approximately  after  P3  A1  (1  and  2). 

5.  Twelve  to  seventeen  years  separate  puberty  from 
birth.  This  is  the  prepuberal  period  of  growth.  Two  years 
suffice  for  its  establishing  and  constitute  the  puberal  period. 
Beyond  that,  three  years  are  necessary  to  attain  to  nubility, 
three  years  which  represent  the  duration  of  the  post-puberal 
period  of  growth,  or  the  inter-nubilo-puberal  period  (11). 

6.  Puberty  is  precocious  or  delayed  according  to  the 
value  of  placental  alimentation  (9  and  11). 

7.  Puberty  is  the  period  of  maturing  of  the  organs  of  re- 
production; it  answers  to  the  maturity  of  the  encephalon, 
but  marks  merely  the  debut  of  the  last  stage  of  the  soma 
towards  maturity  (9),  Plate  IX. 

8.  Puberty  determines  normally  some  inequalities  of 
growth  which  have  for  object  the  definite  appropriation  of 
the  soma  to  the  function  of  reproduction,  but  they  often 
carry  with  them  some  temporary  troubles,  not  pathological. 
Such  are  the  change  of  voice,  the  "vergetures"  of  growth, 


118  Growth  During  School  Age 

such  are  a  great  number  of  other  troubles  which  determine 
in  the  scholar  some  various  ills  by  psychical  repercussion 
(9  and  10). 

9.  The  duration  of  the  effects  of  irregular  puberal 
growth  depends  upon  that  of  alternation  of  growth  to  which 
it  is  connected.  If  it  is  prolonged,  it  is  that  the  action  of 
a  contingent  cause  preserves  it  from  the  law  of  alternation, 
and  in  this  case,  the  troubles  assume  a  pathological  char- 
acter (9  and  10). 

10.  Puberty  has  an  inverse  action  on  the  pigment  accord- 
ing as  it  concerns  the  pigment  of  the  skin  and  hair  which 
it  darkens  or  of  the  pigment  of  the  iris  which  it  light- 
ens (1). 


III.       LAWS    RELATIVE    TO    THE    PROPORTIONS    DURING    GROWTH 

Plates  I,  V,  VI,  VII,  VIII  and  XVI. 

1.  From  the  child  just  born  until  manhood  is  reached 
each  segment  has  its  own  manner  of  behaving  towards 
height  (4). 

2.  If  the  proportional  growth  is  superior  to  that  of  stat- 
ure for  one  segment  of  the  body,  it  is  inferior  to  it  for  the 
segment  situated  immediately  below  or  above  (4  and  8). 

3.  Such  segment  which  progresses  relatively  more  than 
the  stature  until  puberty,  falls  behind  beyond  the  age  of 
puberty  and  vice  versa  (4  and  8). 

4.  The  proportions  of  breadth  in  general  present  some 
peculiar  variations  which  are  in  correlation  with  those  of 
the  proportions  of  length  of  trunk  (7  and  8). 

5.  There  are  three  phases  in  the  evolution  of  the  varia- 
tions presented  by  the  proportions  of  length  and  breadth 
in  the  course  of  post-foetal  ontogeny;  the  first  phase  ex- 


Some  Laws  of  Growth  119 

tends  from  birth  to  six  years,  the  second  from  six  to  fifteen 
years,  and  the  third  from  fifteen  years  to  adult  age  (8). 

6.  Some  proportions  determined  for  each  category  of  the 
organic  constitution  answer  to  the  puberal  period  and  very 
often  even  to  the  dawn  of  puberty  (11). 

7.  The  proportions  consequently  allow  of  an  acquaint- 
ance, in  a  close  manner,  with  the  space  of  time  which,  at  a 
given  moment,  separates  a  child  from  puberty,  that  is,  his 
puberal  age,  his  age  of  evolution  (11). 

8.  At  six  years,  on  an  average,  about  nine  }Tears  before 
puberty,  the  proportions  are  such  during  a  semester  or 
two  that  the  silhouette  of  the  child  indicates  that  of  the 
future  man  (4  and  8),  Plate  I  and  especially  II  and  XVI. 


IV.       LAWS    RELATIVE     TO     ASYMMETRIES 

1.  Between  the  binary  organs  a  correlative  asymmetry 
of  hyperfunction  governs;  in  the  right-handed,  the  right 
upper  limb  is  longer  and  thicker,  the  right  shoulder  lower, 
etc.,  characteristics  which  pass  to  the  left  side  in  the  left- 
handed  (5). 

2.  The  evolution  of  normal  asymmetries  of  binary  organs 
and  of  the  trunk  progresses  throughout  age  in  a  sense  in- 
verse to  growth,  but  in  the  same  direction  as  function  (5). 

3.  In  right-handed,  the  superiority  of  length  and  of  thick- 
ness which  is  on  the  right  side  for  the  upper  limbs,  is  often 
situated  on  the  left  side  for  the  lower  limbs,  which  fact 
determines  a  crossed  functional  superactivity.  In  the  left- 
handed  the  crossing  is  reversed   (5). 

4.  The  auricles  of  the  ears  show  a  notable  and  constant 
asymmetry  without  apparent  functional  correlation  which 
growth  tends  to  efface  (5  and  6). 


120  Growth  During  School  Age 

PUBLICATIONS  IN  WHICH  THE  FACTS  LEADING 
TO  THE  LAWS  ARE  ANALYSED 

1.  Recherches  anthropometriques  sur  la  croissance  des  di- 

verses  parties  du  corps. 

2.  De  la  puberte  a  la  nubilite.     Societe  d'Anthropologie, 

7  juillet,  1909. 
S.  Alternances  des  accroissements  (semestriels)   au  cours 
du  developpemcnt  du  corps  humain  (dans  le  sexe  mas- 
culin).     Societe  de  Biologie,  seance  du  25  juin  1910. 

4.  Les  proportions  du  corps  pendant  la  croissance.     Soci- 

ete d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,  1910. 

5.  Asymctries  normalcs  des  organes  binaires  chez  Vhomme. 

Academie  des  Sciences  1900  et  1910. 

6.  A  propos  d'asymetrie  auriculaire.     Societe  d'Anthropol- 

ogie de  Paris,  1910. 

7.  Variations  des  proportions  de  longueur  et  de  largeur  du 

corps  dans  le  sexe  masculin  au  cours  de  Vontogenie 
post-foetale.     Academie  des   Sciences,   1911. 

8.  Variations     des     proportions. — Leurs     lois     evolutives. 

Academie  de   Medecine,   1911. 

9.  Essai  d' 'explication  du  role  de  la  puberte  chez  Vhomme: 

Societe  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,  1911. 

10.  Uaccroissemcnt  incgal  a  Vcpoque  de  la  puberte.     Acad- 

emic des  Sciences,  1912. 

11.  De  quelques  rapports  de  revolution  de  croissance  avec 

la   puberte.     XIVme    Congres    d'Anthropologie    (Ge- 
neve, 1912). 


PART  II 

APPLICATIONS  TO  EDUCATION  AND  PEDAGOGY 

"...  Uanatomie  et  la  physiologie  humaine,  ont  besoin 
de  Vhistoire  de  developpement  de  Vliomme  apres  comme  avant 
sa  naissance.  La  psychologie  n'y  est  pas  moins  interessee. 
La  medecine,  Vhygiene  et  aussi  la  morale,  V education 
physique  et  intellectuelle,  tout  cela  doit  en  beneficier  par  la 


meme.  .  .  ." 


L.  Maxouveiee, 
(Preface  des  "Recherches  sur  la  Croissance 
des  diverses  parties  du  Corps19  de  Paul 
Godin,  p.  11). 


CHAPTER  I 

UNEQUAL  GROWTH  IN  THE  SCHOLAR.   ORGANIC   TROUBLES 

WHICH  PROVOKE  IT  AND  OF  WHICH  THE  TEACHER 

AND  EDUCATOR  HAVE  TO  TAKE  ACCOUNT 

Of  what  unequal  growth  consists. — Interest  of  education  in 
the  troubles  which  it  determines. — Examples  of  puberal 
troubles  due  to  unequal  growth. — Pedagogical  conse- 
quences of  these  troubles, 

OF  what  unequal  growth  consists. — We  have  just  de- 
termined what  we  ought  to  understand  by  unequal 
growth:  in  an  identical  organ,  the  play  of  augmented  and 
reduced  growth  creates  some  inequalities  of  the  kind  which 
have  been  observed  in  the  first  hours  of  life. 

In  the  embryo,  these  irregularities  of  growth  had  for  ob- 
ject the  construction  of  the  organs.  In  the  child  who  is  be- 
coming pubescent,  the  organs  are  formed;  so  the  end  of  un- 
equal growth  is  no  longer  to  achieve  their  perfection,  to  ren- 
der their  functions  more  easy,  and  more  in  harmony  with 
the  new  needs  or  at  least  the  orientation  quite  different  from 
the  needs  of  the  being  soon  capable  of  procreating. 

It  is  normal,  in  the  child,  that  the  progression  of  the  ef- 
fects of  unequal  growth  should  last  about  one  semester,  a 
limited  duration  which  leaves  only  in  relatively  rare  cases, 
to  the  trouble  outlined  by  non-parallel  growth,  the  time  to 
assume  the  importance  of  a  pathological  state.  That  arises 
from  the  effects  of  unequal  growth  not  having  escaped  the 
law  of  alternation.      However,  there  are  some  cases  where 

123 


124  Growth  During  School  Age 

the  consequences  of  a  poor  placental  alimentation,  that 
which  causes  delayed  puberty,  suffice  to  preserve  unequal 
growth  temporarily  from  the  law  of  alternation  and  to  pro- 
long by  one  semester  the  progression  of  its  effects. 

The  functional  equilibrium  is  from  then  on  menaced.  The 
physiological  condition  is  still  maintained  if  the  anatomical 
constitution  is  not  affected  to  the  point  of  obstructing  it 
too  much  and  if  the  functional  appropriation  can  be  realized. 

However,  the  limits  of  the  physiological  state  are  even- 
tually found  exceeded  by  the  persistence  of  the  inequality  of 
growth ;  from  the  moment  when  the  functional  appropriation 
can  no  longer  take  place  without  injury  to  the  organism, 
the  pathological  state  is  very  near  to  being  created.  This 
state  proceeds,  moreover,  from  the  pathological  condition 
from  this  fact,  that  it  implies  a  lessening  of  the  human  ac- 
tivity, a  reduction  of  resistance,  from  this  fact,  that,  if  it 
is  established  in  a  definitive  way,  it  harms  or  arrests  bal- 
anced growth,  with  the  fine  regulation  of  its  proportions 
and,  in  the  last  analysis,  determines  a  diminution  of  the 
chances  of  happiness  of  the  individual  and  of  his  social 
worth. 

However,  the  limits  of  physiology  are  habitually  exceeded 
only  as  often  as  an  external  cause  intervenes,  such  as  a  trau- 
matism, an  infection,  a  neoplasm,  which  cause  several  suc- 
cessive phases  of  alternation  to  be  crossed  without  remission. 

Interest  of  education  in  the  troubles  due  to  unequal 
puberal  growth. — It  is  conceived  that  the  cases  are  numer- 
ous in  which,  while  remaining  at  the  limit  at  which  physio- 
logical deviation  is  produced,  without  that  there  should  be 
further  morbid  disorganization,  some  real  troubles  are 
nevertheless  constituted. 

These  are  those  ill-defined  states  which  do  not  draw  the 
attention  of  the  family  by  any  frankly  unhealthy  appear- 


Unequal  Growth  and  Its  Causes  125 

ance,  of  which  no  disquieting  symptom  provokes  the  calling 
of  the  physician,  these  are  precisely  those  mixed  states  which 
interest  the  educator,  and  must  be  ferreted  out  by  him;  for 
between  them  and  the  psychic  character  of  the  scholar  reigns 
a  close  union  the  forgetting  of  which  ruins  the  psychology 
of  the  pubescent  and  is  full  of  sad  educational  and  peda- 
gogical consequences. 

Such  is,  in  short,  the  pathogenetic  mechanism  of  puberty 
which  rests,  as  is  seen,  upon  the  physiological  tripod ;  em- 
bryo-foetal nutrition,  unequal  growth,  and  the  law  of  al- 
ternation. 

The  factors  which  can  eventually  intervene  are  before  all 
traumata,  infections,  and  intoxication,  these  latter  ordi- 
narily originating  in  the  digestion  and  proceeding  from  poor 
alimentation  of  early  age,  that  is,  from  everything  which  is 
not  the  nursing  by  the  mother,  sole  alimentation  appropriate 
to  the  needs  of  the  child  and  to  the  maintenance  of  its  organs 
in  a  state  of  normal  functioning. 

Puberal  troubles  from  the  side  of  the  larynx  and  of  the 
tegument. — In  the  larynx,  in  virtue  of  connective  and  mus- 
cular augmentations  determined  by  puberty  the  thyro-ary- 
tenoidal  ligaments  and  muscles  suddenly  elongate,  and  more 
than  is  suited  to  the  space  between  their  extreme  points  of 
insertion. 

Up  to  that  time  the  cartilages  have  grown.  At  this  mo- 
ment they  cease  to  grow;  or  rather  they  reduce  consider- 
ably the  rate  of  their  growth,  so  that  the  arytenoido-thy- 
roidal  space  is  not  proportional  to  the  length  of  the  con- 
nective-muscular elements  of  the  vocal  chords.  At  the  end 
of  a  phase  of  alternation  which  can  be  extended  to  several 
semesters,  the  cartilages  recover  their  activity  of  growth, 
the  arytenoido-thyroidal  digression  is  harmonized  with  the 
length  of  the  chords. 


126  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  voice,  at  first  shrill,  then  tremulous,  takes  on  firm- 
ness at  the  same  time  that  it  realizes  its  definite  tonal  qual- 
ity and  timbre.  Emasculation  maintains  the  shrill  voice 
because  it  suppresses  the  germen,  and  as  a  result,  puberty 
with  all  its  consequences,  with  its  augmentations  bearing  on 
the  growth  of  connective  and  muscular  tissue,  with  its  dimi- 
nutions affecting  among  others  the  cartilaginous  tissue.  So 
that  puberty  being  suppressed,  everything  which  grows  by 
the  cartilage,  continues  to  increase.  The  chords,  on  the 
contrary,  remain  stationary,  and,  throughout  age,  continue 
the  chords  of  a  child.  They  are  too  short  for  the  greatly 
increased  space  which  is  between  their  extreme  insertions. 

On  the  part  of  the  skin,  growth,  it  is  known,  is  reduced 
or  arrested  when  puberty  approaches.  The  skin  is,  in  fact, 
of  ectodermic  origin,  and  puberty  reduces  or  arrests  in  the 
same  way  the  growth  of  divers  others  derivatives  of  the 
ectoderm. 

If  an  infection  occur  and  determine  an  exorbitant 
elongation  of  the  long  bones  of  the  lower  limbs,  as  is  seen 
in  the  last  stage  of  serious  illness,  the  skin  is  not  able  to  fol- 
low this  increase.  The  infection  acts  like  emasculation,  in 
exaggerating  the  activity  of  the  cartilage,  in  inhibiting  the 
growth  of  connective  and  muscular  tissues,  in  causing  the 
phases  of  physiological  alternation  to  transgress  this  ir- 
regular growth. 

The  skin  is  stretched  to  such  a  point  that  its  elastic  ele- 
ments (Troisier  and  Menetrier)  end  in  breaking  themselves 
following  one  or  several  transversal  lines  above  the  knee- 
pan,  and  leave  behind  as  a  result  one  or  several  white  bars 
called  "vergetures  de  croissance,"  analogous  to  those  which 
striate  the  abdominal  teguments  of  women  who  have  been 
pregnant  several  times. 

Puberal    troubles    on    the   part    of    the   limbs. — We  .are 


Unequal  Growth  and  Its  Causes  127 

called  to  observe  during  the  period  of  installation  of  puberty 
some  muscular  hernias  by  aponeurotic  rupture,  some  myo- 
pathias by  rupture  of  the  muscular  fibres.  The  stretching 
which  determines  these  ruptures  is  the  fact  of  unequal 
growth.  A  sudden  lengthening  of  the  long  bones  may  cor- 
respond in  the  child,  more  or  less  maltreated  during  his  in- 
tra-uterine  life,  to  a  repose  of  the  growth  of  the  muscles  and 
connective  tissue. 

That  condition  is  often  produced  several  semesters  before 
the  appearance  of  puberty.  From  thence  come,  in  the  seg- 
ments of  the  limbs,  in  the  legs,  in  the  thighs,  a  stretching  of 
the  muscles,  of  the  nerve  fibers,  of  the  vessels,  of  the  apo- 
neuroses, of  the  periosteum  with  some  various  accidents  or 
merely  painful  sensations.  They  can  be  very  vivid,  the  pains 
felt  by  the  child ;  they  are  ordinarily  deep-seated,  indistinct, 
without  very  precise  localization. 

The  instability  of  the  child  is  the  natural  effect  of  it.  It 
does  not  delay  in  reverberating  on  the  psychical  state  of 
which  the  teacher  cannot  interpret  the  trouble  if  he  is  not  ac- 
quainted with  these  special  conditions  of  development. 

From  the  right  or  wrong  interpretation  of  this  instability 
can  result  the  most  grave  consequences  for  the  present  and 
the  future  of  the  child.  I  have  seen  some  scholars  become 
bad  subjects  as  a  result  of  punishments  incurred  during  this 
period  for  some  reasons  born  of  their  sad  tortures ;  they 
were  suffering  and  their  sufferings  were  not  understood. 
They  were  not  able,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  their  young 
will  to  govern  the  need  of  changing  the  position  of  the  pain- 
ful limbs.  The  agitation,  evidently  deplorable  in  class,  was 
attributed  to  some  causes  of  another  order,  as  well  for  the 
good  pupils  "about  to  be  spoiled,"  it  was  said,  as  for  the 
bad. 

From  everything  difficult  and  confused  which  there  was 


128  Growth  During  School  Age 

for  the  child  in  his  discomfort  and  his  bewilderment  of  false 
human  judgment,  this  impression  stood  out:  "The  punish- 
ment inflicted  is  unjust." 

"If  I  move  all  the  time,"  exclaimed  one  of  them,  a  good 
boy,  choking  with  indignation,  "Monsieur,  I  swear  that  it 
is  not  my  fault." 

"It  is  an  intolerable  distraction,"  replied  the  master,  made 
impatient  by  the  unlucky  influence  of  this  disturber  on  the 
thirty-five  other  pupils  in  the  class,  and  the  punishment  was 
maintained. 

Doubtless  he  was  turbulent,  this  scholar,  but  whose  duty 
was  it  to  recognize  the  cause  of  his  agitation?  It  cannot 
be  a  question  of  carrying  into  the  domain  of  school  the  ir- 
responsibility which  inhibits  social  selection  while  stifling  the 
action  of  discipline  and  that  of  justice.  It  is  a  matter 
solely  of  distinguishing  the  physical  condition  of  the  child, 
and  of  recognizing  with  precision  the  cases  liable  to  cor- 
rection and  those  which  merit  treatment.  The  educator 
and  the  physician  musl  by  their  collaboration  give  satisfac- 
tion to  this  inalienable  "right  of  the  child,"  by  enlightening 
themselves  mutually  on  the  conditions  of  growth. 

That  gives  you  an  idea  of  the  importance  of  the  educa- 
tive and  pedagogical  effects  of  erroneous  information  rela- 
tive to  the  conditions  which  an  organism  in  the  travail  of 
growth  presents. 

In  the  bust,  in  the  limbs,  if  skeletal  elongation  has  been 
outstripped  by  that  of  muscular  and  connective  tissue,  a 
relaxation  is  produced,  a  kind  of  wavering.  A  part  of  the 
work  of  the  contraction  of  the  muscles  is  rendered  ineffica- 
cious, and  the  effort  necessary  to  the  act  passes  from  single 
to  twofold  for  an  equal  output,  whence  the  rapid  fatigue  and 
its  results. 

Let  us  note  in  passing  that  acquaintance  with  these  di- 


Unequal  Growth  and  Its  Causes  129 

verse  conditions  is  important  to  the  psychologist  as  much 
as  to  the  educator,  and  for  reasons  of  the  same  order, 
namely,  the  interpretation  of  individuality.  Judgment 
runs  all  the  risks  of  being  false  if  the  existence  of  one  of  these 
conditions  has  not  been  ferreted  out  in  the  scholar  before 
subjecting  him  to  psychological  experimentation. 

Troubles  of  puberty  on  the  part  of  the  vessels,  the  viscera, 
the  spinal  column,  the  joints. — The  venous  circulation  is 
liable  to  arrest  as  a  result  of  the  relaxation  of  the  walls  of 
the  return  vessels  which  the  muscles  and  aponeuroses  of  the 
limbs  no  longer  support  sufficiently. 

If  the  scholar  sits  on  the  flat  of  his  thigh,  as  the  high 
seats  and  the  equilibrium  of  his  body  oblige  him  to  do,  it 
is  at  this  moment  that  there  is  prepared  the  inception  of 
varices  which  spread  out  a  little  later  without  that  the  im- 
mediate causes,  at  the  time  when  they  are  detected,  allow  of 
an  explanation  of  them. 

The  serous  folds,  the  suspensors  of  the  viscera,  lose  their 
normal  tension  and  what  has  just  been  said  of  varices  holds 
true  of  visceral  ptosis.  It  is  often  at  puberty  that  visceral 
ptoses  are  initiated,  or  at  least  that  they  are  set  up  ana- 
tomically. 

The  spinal  column  is  seen  relaxed  between  two  connective- 
muscular  bundles,  lending  itself  to  accidental  influences, 
school  and  otherwise,  and  bending  itself  while  being  twisted 
more  or  less  as  a  result  of  the  inequality  of  the  lengthening 
of  the  vertebral  ligaments  or  in  the  direction  of  functional 
right,  or  left-handed  demand,  thus  setting  up  a  necessary 
scoliosis.1 

The  articulations,  on  their  side,  take  as  a  result  of  the  re- 
laxation of  the  articulatory  ligaments,  a  laxity  singularly 

1  Academy  of  Science,  notes  on  the  "Asymetries  normales  des  organes 
binaires  chez  l'homme,"  February  19,  1900,  and  October  3,  1910. 


130  Growth  During  School  Age 

favorable  to  intra-articulatory  traumatisms  with  friction, 
bruising,  contusion  of  the  cartilaginous  or  synovial  surfaces, 
and  consequently  to  arthralgia,  to  arthritis,  independently 
of  all  special  predispositions,  to  dislocations  (subluxations), 
to  serious  temporary  deformations  of  the  multiarticular  seg- 
ments such  as  the  wrist  and  ankle. 

Puberal  troubles  through  inordinate  growth  of  segments 
of  the  spinal  column. — Unequal  growth  can  injure  two  tis- 
sues of  which  the  one  serves  for  the  gain  of  the  other.  Let 
us  take  for  example  the  effects  of  unequal  growth  on  the  ver- 
tebral column  and  on  the  medullary  nerve  axis  which  it  in- 
closes.2 

Normally,  puberal  augmentation  elongates  the  spinal  col- 
umn. This  fact  has  already  been  mentioned  apropos 
'puberal  alternation  in  these  terms :  "height  owes  the  great- 
est part  of  its  development  before  puberty  to  the  lower  limbs, 
after  puberty  to  the  bust,"  to  the  spinal  column,  conse- 
quently, augmented  by  the  height  of  the  cranium. 

At  the  same  time,  the  nervous  tissues,  centers  and  nerves 
which  spring  from  it,  nerve  threads  of  the  great  sympa- 
thetic system  itself,  experience  a  reduction  in  their  growth. 
So  that  the  spinal  cord,  which  needs,  however,  only  a  quite 
slight  growth,  by  reason  of  its  special  relations  with  the 
vertebral  column,  does  not  succeed  in  realizing  it.  If  the 
lengthening  of  the  spinal  column  should  be  ever  so  little  with 
a  certain  suddenness  and  attain  important  proportions,  di- 
vers accidents  can  result  from  it.  These  accidents  take  a 
definite  character  when  the  increase  bears  exclusively  on  a 
single  segment  of  the  spinal  column.     The  seat  of  predilec- 

2  Longueur  relative  de  la  moelle  et  du  rachis,"  chapter  xvi  of  Y Etude 
sur  les  rapports  anthropometriques  en  general,  et  sur  les  principalis 
proportions  du  corps,  of  Professor  L.  Manouvrier,  in  Memoires  de  la 
Societe  d' Anthropologic  de  Paris,  v.  II,  3e  serie,  3e  fascicule. 


Unequal  Growth  and  Its  Causes  131 

tion  of  this  "local  gigantism,"  of  this  exaggeration  of  length 
of  segment,  is  the  cervical  spine  of  the  child. 

The  tension  which  the  cervical  segment  of  the  spinal  cord 
undergoes,  having  become  too  short  by  the  fact,  is  transmit- 
ted to  the  brain,  and  there  result  from  it  some  nervous  mani- 
festations which  can  terminate  in  Sydenham's  chorea,  when 
the  tension  is  moderate,  when  it  reacts  on  the  thalamus  opti- 
cus and  not  beyond,  and  when  the  disparity  of  increase  be- 
tween the  spinal  cord  and  spinal  column  is  of  short  duration 
(phase  of  alternation).  But  these  manifestations  can  go 
much  farther,  until  to  epilepsy,  as  observation  and  experi- 
mentation have  demonstrated  to  me,  if  the  effects  of  the 
tension  are  felt  by  the  brain  cells  of  the  grey  matter  and  if 
several  phases  of  alternation  are  transgressed. 

Phenomena  of  this  order  appear  in  some  children  who 
show  diverse  accidents  (such  as  traumatisms,  infections, 
tapeworm — two  personal  observations — etc.),  of  a  nature 
to  favor  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  before  the  puberal  pe- 
riod, unequal  growth  to  which  they  are  already  disposed  by 
the  poor  quality  of  placental  alimentation. 

Choreic  movements  of  puberal  origin. — "Some  disparities 
(disjonctiojis)  of  lesser  importance  are  produced  under  the 
influence  of  causes  less  accentuated."  That  is  quite  frequent, 
and  I  especially  call  the  attention  of  the  educator  to  "the 
choreic  movements"  which  are  met  in  6  to  9  scholars  of  every 
100  normal  ones,  and  of  which  the  greater  part  of  the  vol- 
untary muscles  are  the  seat,  but  especially  the  long  mus- 
cles of  the  lower  limbs  and  also  those  of  the  upper  limbs. 
By  reason  of  the  circumstances  disclosed  by  half-yearly  ob- 
servation of  the  same  children,  I  believe  choreic  movements 
ought  to  be  connected  with  unequal  growth.  In  each  of 
the   children   affected  with   choreiform  movements   periodic 


132  Growth  During  School  Age 

observation  has  disclosed  unequal  growth  with  transgres- 
sion of  alternations;  just  as  in  scholars  affected  by  tic- 
douloureux  or  facial  neuralgia.  But  in  these  two  groups, 
the  manifestations  of  unequal  growth  were  different.  In  the 
latter  case  they  were  of  the  cranium;  in  the  other  of  the 
spine.  In  both,  unequal  growth  multiplied  its  effects 
throughout  the  organism  and  often  continued  them  several 
consecutive  semesters. 

Do  not  confuse  the  tics  which  are  local,  contract  singly 
such  or  such  group  of  muscles,  and  determine  some  twitches 
continuously  the  same  with  choreic  movements  which  are  not 
localized  and  appear  simultaneously  at  several  points  of  the 
organism  and  assume  neither  the  aspect  nor  the  periodicity 
of  tic.  Nothing  is  easier,  however,  for  the  educator  than 
this  diagnosis ;  for  there  is  unfortunately  no  class  where 
there  are  not  found  one  or  several  children  affected  with  the 
tics,  or  with  something  like  it,  with  which  it  is  possible  to 
make  a  comparison. 

Choreic  movements  bring  on  some  disturbance,  a  little 
like  the  pains  of  growth,  but  disturbance  localized,  in  some 
fashion,  and  a  disturbance  which  is  not  here  provoked  by 
pain ;  it  is  the  direct  effect  of  the  contractions,  of  muscu- 
lar twitchings,  however  reduced  they  may  be. 

If  the  child  has  not  been  undressed,  if  the  physician  or 
the  educator  has  not  been  able  to  see  with  his  eyes  the 
fibrillary  contractions  of  the  muscles,  he  does  not  and  can- 
not know  from  what  cause  the  physical  instability  arises 
and  consequently  the  unsteadiness  of  the  child  who  now  finds 
himself  exposed  to  the  reproaches  and  perhaps  to  punish- 
ments, evidently  unjust,  since  he  is  no  more  master  of  these 
little  useless  and  often  ill-timed  movements  than  he  would 
be  of  the  large  movements  of  Sydenham's  chorea. 

I  repeat,  these  "choreic  movements"  are  much  more  fre- 


Unequal  Growth  and  Its  Causes  133 

quent  in  scholars  than  is  imagined.  Now,  twelve  years  of 
teaching  and  thirty  years  of  practice  in  medicine  would  have 
made  me  acquainted  with  nothing  at  all  regarding  them  and 
their  consequences  if  the  examination  of  the  stripped  child 
had  not  presented  to  my  eyes  the  vibratory  trembling  of 
the  muscular  bundles. 

They  are  observed  sometimes  as  early  as  the  age  of  eleven 
or  twelve  years,  but  it  is  above  all,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  appearance  of  puberty  that  the  "choreic  movements" 
manifest  themselves.  I  have  never  seen  them  degenerate 
into  chora ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  they  last  longer  than  the 
plainly  choreic  manifestations.  They  are  involuntary,  pain- 
less, unconscious,  can  be  neither  arrested  nor  even  limited 
by  the  subject. 

From  the  pedagogical  point  of  view,  I  must  appeal  to 
the  benevolence  of  the  master  and  ask  him  to  cut  short,  as 
often  as  his  instruction  and  good  order  in  his  class  will  per- 
mit him,  the  school  hours  of  immobility  for  every  child  suf- 
fering from  choreic  movements.  It  is  understood  that  as 
soon  as  it  appears,  his  case  will  be  submitted  to  the  physi- 
cian who,  without  subjecting  the  child  to  a  discipline  of 
which  he  has  more  need  than  ever,  will  have  to  orientate  him 
in  the  desired  direction  by  special  hygiene. 

These  diverse  circumstances  of  the  puberal  life  of  the 
child  would  create,  if  one  did  not  take  pains  to  know  them 
perfectly,  a  host  of  quasi  irresponsibilities  which  would  ren- 
der the  mission  of  the  educator  terribly  delicate.  There  are 
still  other  circumstances  which  it  is  also  necessary  to  know 
very  well  for  they  represent  just  as  many  exact  duties  for 
the  direction  of  education. 

Contagious  tics  of  puberal  origin. — Such  is  the  case  of  the 
tics.  One  day  in  1911  I  was  passing  through  a  little  town 
of  the  French  Jura,  when  I  saw  coming  trooping  along  a 


134  Growth  During  School  Age 

school  of  girls.  The  pupils  were  numerous,  many  middle- 
sized  and  a  few  large.  While  walking,  they  were  chatter- 
ing and  accompanied  their  gossip  with  a  mimicking,  intense, 
exaggerated,  and  singularly  jerky.  They  made  grimaces  or 
shook  their  heads  affirmatively  or  negatively.  And,  more- 
over, the  conversation,  carried  on  in  a  high  key,  had  no  re- 
lation at  all  with  the  energetic  signs  of  denial  or  affirma- 
tion. And  the  speculation  of  the  girls  continued  to  unfold, 
showing  new  heads  shaken  by  these  useless  movements,  al- 
wavs  the  same. 

mi 

There  was  no  doubt  possible ;  this  school  was  the  victim 
of  an  epidemic  of  tic.  I  experienced  some  regret  at  not 
being  able  to  set  out  in  quest  of  the  source  of  the  epidemic, 
when,  in  her  turn,  the  mistress  passed,  holding  by  the 
arm,  a  pupil  of  thirteen  to  fourteen  years  old.  Both,  with- 
out looking  at  each  other,  were  making  with  their  heads, 
movements  more  extended,  more  jerky  than  those  of  all  of 
the  rest  of  the  young  flock.  There  was  the  origin  of  the 
contagion.  It  was  the  mistress  herself.  I  had  the  con- 
firmation of  it.  And  in  fact,  her  favorite  pupil  surpassed 
all  her  schoolmates  and  showed  herself  suffering  in  the  same 
degree  as  the  mistress  whose  jerkings  she  copied  faithfully. 

Without  doubt,  the  public  authorities  are  right,  a  hun- 
dred times,  in  taking  account  before  all,  of  the  intellectual 
and  moral  worth  of  the  masters  whom  they  place  over  youth. 
But,  by  this  example,  which  calls  up  many  others,  one  can 
see  how  grave  is  the  responsibility  which  rests  on  them  when 
they  do  not  protect  the  children  which  the  families  confide 
to  them,  against  an  avoidable  contagion,  according  to  the 
very  expressive  word  of  Brouardel. 

Nothing  is  so  easy  for  a  master  who  observes,  as  to  grasp 
the  door  of  entrance  into  his  class  of  the  tics  and  to  specify 
this  one  or  that  one  who  has  brought  in  the  favorite  move- 


Unequal  Growth  and  Its  Causes  135 

ments.  The  pupil  himself  who  has  brought  them  in,  it  can 
often  be  assured,  has  taken  them  from  a  comrade  in  the  home 
where  he  lives,  from  the  court-yard  or  garden  where  he 
habitually  plays.  I  knew  a  little  girl  who  seemed  to  be  the 
only  person  in  her  community  to  have  the  tics.  A  little 
later,  I  noticed  in  the  street  another  child  presenting  the 
same  tics,  and  I  learned  that  these  little  girls  passed  each 
other  twice  a  day  in  going  to  their  respective  courts. 

In  a  gathering  in  which  girls  retain  their  large  bonnets, 
nothing  is  so  comical  as  the  agitation  in  every  direction  of 
this  motley-colored  mushroom  bed  where  are  distinguished 
some  other  hats  shaken  bv  the  tics  of  the  little  human  be- 
ings  which  they  cover ;  and  the  thought  of  the  infirmity  ar- 
rests the  impulse  to  laugh  which  the  drollery  of  the  sight 
had  just  provoked. 

Tic  can  be  transient  but  it  sometimes  continues  in  the 
young  man  or  the  young  girl ;  it  can  even  persist  through- 
out life.  I  know  a  brilliant  general  officer  who  has  retained 
in  his  eyelids  the  tic  of  his  infancy  and  young  grandmoth- 
ers who  still  shake  their  heads  as  at  fifteen  years. 

My  observations  in  some  varied  occupations  have  led  me 
to  consider  the  general  prevalence  of  tic  in  the  school-child, 
as  an  effect  of  contagion  to  which  the  child  in  travail  of 
puberty  is  exposed,  as  a  result  of  unequal  growth  which  in- 
creases the  gain  of  the  cranium  at  the  moment  when  the 
rate  of  growth  of  the  nerves  (reduced  puberal  growth)  is 
reduced,  and  thus  creates  some  mechanical  causes  of  cere- 
bral excitation.  Certain  children  who  had  not  contracted 
the  tic  prevailing,  professed  regret  at  not  being  able  "to 
do  as  the  others."     Tic  at  school  becomes  a  fashion. 

Not  all  tics  are  contagious  but  I  am  speaking  only  of 
contagious  ones  because  their  relations  to  puberty  are  ex- 
ceedingly   close,    since    they    are    connected    with    unequal 


136  Growth  During  School  Age 

growth.  Masters  have  every  facility  to  make  out  the  con- 
tagion and  its  origin,  a  thing  which  is  not  always  within 
reach  of  the  physician  not  called  to  share  the  life  of  the 
child. 

As  to  original  cases,  cases  which  are  the  point  of  depar- 
ture of  the  contagion,  they  arise  from  the  nervous  pathology 
of  the  adult  who  is  outside  our  field. 

Onanism  of  puberal  origin. — When  onanism  becomes  a 
menace  to  health,  it  ordinarily  arises  from  pathological 
causes ;  but  there  are  some  cases  where  it  derives  from  mani- 
fest effects  of  unequal  para-puberal  growth.  It  is  under 
this  head  only  that  it  is  under  consideration. 

As  for  the  headache  of  growth  and  for  the  tic,  the  dis- 
turbing cases  of  onanism  that  I  have  known  of  in  the  schools 
and  in  families,  touched  some  subjects  somewhat  removed 
from  their  puberty.  Periodical  examination  caused  me  to 
verify  in  most  cases  the  absence  of  a  local  provocatory  cause 
but  a  sudden  augmentation  of  cranial  dimensions.  Now, 
this  augmentation  arose  in  some  children  of  moderate  in- 
telligence, bv  no  means  overdriven,  at  the  moment  when 
puberal  preparation  reduces  or  arrests  the  growth  of  nerv- 
ous tissue.  The  abruptness  of  the  augmentation  of  volume 
of  the  cranium  denoted  the  intervention  of  unequal  puberal 
growth.  The  other  causes  eliminated,  I  believed  I  was  able 
to  connect  onanism  to  this  mechanical  cause  of  psychical 
trouble.  Appropriate  regulations  of  physical  exercises,  a 
varied  intellectual  culture,  select  and  notably  more  inten- 
sive; the  suppression  of  all  alcoholic  drink,  the  treatment 
which  I  instituted  for  unequal  growth, — by  these  means  I 
obtained  in  a  few  months  a  change  of  aspect  of  the  general 
condition  of  these  subjects  which  implied  the  effective  cor- 
rection of  the  "psychical  deviation."     But,  outside  of  these 


Unequal  Growth  and  Its  Causes  137 

cases  coincident  with  puberty,  inveterate  onanism  is  always 
a  malady  which  has  an  unhealthy  setting. 

Let  us  then  turn  the  patient  over  to  the  physician,  and 
let  us,  as  educators,  charge  ourselves  with  the  search  of  the 
causes  springing  from  the  moral  atmosphere,  from  the  en- 
vironment, from  comrades,  from  friend,  from  readings. 
Then,  according  to  the  results  of  this  double  inquiry,  let 
the  direction  of  education  be  orientated  with  firmness. 

In  all  cases,  the  educator  needs  great  skill.  He  will  be 
severe  in  the  choice  of  relations  and  will  ruthlessly  turn  away 
the  dangerous  example ;  he  will  exercise  a  loyal  surveillance, 
and  will  attempt  to  inspire  confidence  in  the  subject  ren- 
dered distrustful  by  his  very  vice. 

With  some,  the  educator  will  be  able  to  reason,  while  re- 
fraining from  all  exaggeration  relative  to  the  evil  or  to  its 
consequences.  He  will  have  constant  regard  of  truth,  and 
will  never  forget  that  the  physiological  truth  is  the  whole- 
some education,  the  wholesome  example,  the  moral  clean- 
ness of  the  air  which  the  child  breathes.  Such  is  the  physi- 
ological truth  because  such  is  the  safeguard  of  the  chronol- 
ogy of  functions. 

These  are  the  reasons  why,  from  whatever  side  one  re- 
gards it,  the  above-mentioned  deviation  is  a  resultant  and 
arises  above  all  from  the  first  education  which  penetrates  the 
child  under  cover  of  breeding.  There  is  very  little  onanism 
among  children  nourished  and  reared  by  their  mother. 


CHAPTER  II 

GROWTHS  BY  GREAT  ALTERNATIONS.   WHAT  THE  EDUCATOR 
AND  TEACHER  CAN  INFER  FROM  IT 

Alternate  rhythm  of  growth  for  the  spinal  column  and  for 
the  cranium. — Alternations  in  the  development  of  the 
germen. — Relative  independence  of  the  evolution  of 
growth  to  great  alternations. — Relations  between  tiiem 
and  with  puberty. — Pedagogical  and  educational  de- 
ductions. 

ALTERNATE  rhythm  of  growth  for  the  spinal  column 
and  for  the  cranium. — Alternation  is  a  synonym  for  us 
of  the  succession  of  repose  to  effort,  and  of  effort  to  repose 
in  the  growth  of  an  organ.  I  refer  to  relative  repose,  of 
course.  We  were  acquainted  with  the  short  alternations  or 
at  least  with  a  certain  number  of  them;  we  now  mean  those 
which  extend  over  several  years.  The  growth  of  the  spinal 
column  is  of  this  number.  Its  alternations  are  of  long 
duration.  Very  active  in  the  course  of  the  intra-uterine  life, 
it  diminishes  from  birth  to  puberty,  to  the  point  of  attain- 
ing at  that  moment,  its  slightest  proportional  length. 

As  early  as  the  appearance  of  puberty,  the  spinal  col- 
umn again  begins  to  elongate  so  as  to  contribute  from  now 
on  more  than  the  lower  limbs  to  the  elongation  of  the  stature 
and  that  continues  until  the  adult  state  is  completed. 
Plate  III. 

The   cranium  offers   another  example  of  great   alterna- 

138 


Growths  by  Great  Alternations  139 

tion  of  growth.  It  expands  in  every  direction  in  the  foetus 
and  presents  already  at  birth  30/100  of  the  volume  which 
it  will  have  once  an  adult.  Plate  IX.  Its  growth  under- 
goes no  arrest  at  all  in  the  well  built  child,  and  continues 
actively  until  about  the  age  of  five  years  when  80/100  of 
its  final  volume  is  attained.  Beyond  the  age  of  five  years, 
the  growth  of  the  cranium  acquires  in  ten  years  the  20/100 
of  the  increase  which  will  permit  it  to  be  adult  at  puberty. 

The  rests  of  alternation  are  not  marked  by  any  arrests, 
either  for  the  cranium  or  for  the  spinal  column,  but  only 
by  some  diminishing  of  the  activity  of  growth.  The  cra- 
nium attains  the  adult  state  at  puberty  approximately, 
and,  although  its  activity  of  growth  has  been  continued,  it 
is  shown  to  be  very  irregular,  taking  nine  months  to  realize 
the  first  third  of  its  final  volume,  then  five  years  to  acquire 
the  second  third,  approximately,  finally  ten  years  to  make 
up  the  remaining  third. 

Alternation  in  the  develop"  it  of  the  germen. — But  the 
alternation  of  the  evolution  of  the  germen  is  much  the  more 
accentuated.  Its  development,  that  of  the  seminal  issue, 
is  made  during  the  intra-uterine  life  except  the  last  stage, 
which  consists  in  the  ultimate  modification  of  the  spermatid 
into  spermatozoon.  This  final  transformation  is  equal  to 
the  last  part  of  the  growth  of  the  germen.  The  transforma- 
tion will  be  effected  at  the  time  of  puberty,  a  time  of  which 
it  decides,  since  it  is  the  essential  phenomena  of  the  trans- 
formation. Plate  IX.  During  the  whole  period  which  ex- 
tends from  birth  to  puberty,  the  repose  of  the  germen  is 
complete. 

Relative  independence  of  the  evolutions  of  growth  to  the 
great  alternations. — The  three  organic  factors  are  consid- 
ered here,  the  germen  according  to  anatomical  and  func- 


140  Growth  During  School  Age 

tional  notions,  G,  the  brain  according  to  the  volume  of  the 
cranium,  C,  the  soma  according  to  the  volume  of  the  trunk, 
V  (see  p.  222). 

Their  comparative  evolution  presents  to  be  considered 
(a)  the  modality  of  the  development  and  (b)  the  relative 
rate  of  this  development.     Plate  IX. 

(a)  Modality  of  development. — The  germen  is  developed 
in  two  leaps  with  an  interval  between,  the  one  uterine,  the 
other  puberal.  The  brain  is  developed  in  two  successive 
leaps,  the  one  before  birth,  the  other  soon  after.  The  soma 
is  developed  without  making  any  leap,  from  the  germ  to  the 
adult. 

(b)  Relative  rate  of  development. — At  birth,  the  germen 
attains  already  to  a  near  point,  about  95/100  of  its  total 
development.  The  brain  attains  30/100  of  its  total  devel- 
opment. The  soma  (trunk)  realizes  only  6/100  of  its  adult 
state.     Plate  IX. 

At  five  years  the  germen  is  stationary.  The  brain  attains 
to  80/100  of  its  adult  state.  The  soma  still  represents 
only  30/100  of  the  adult  soma. 

At  IS1/-  years,  the  germen  is  adult. 

At  1514  years,  the  brain  is  adult. 

At  15^/2  years,  the  soma  is  not  yet  adult. 

Such  is,  in  the  course  of  growth,  the  manner  of  behavior 
of  the  three  great  organic  components  of  life.  It  can  be 
translated  thus  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  educative  con- 
sequences. "The  transformer-distributor  (soma)  of  the 
elements  of  nutrition  is  developed  with  regularity  in  the 
healthy  child,  from  the  germ  to  adult  age,  the  age  which  is 
determined  by  the  very  achievement  of  its  growth. 

The  soma  is  outstripped  by  the  germen  and  by  the  brain 
which  are  adults  from  the  time  of  puberty.  Now,  while 
the  perfected  soma  is  an  important  condition  of  the  best 


Growths  by  Great  Alternations  141 

germinal  function,  it  is  only  a  secondary  condition  of  the 
best  cerebral  function. 

On  the  morrow  of  puberty  psychical  activit}'  will  then  not 
at  all  escape  an  educative  direction  which  will  have,, prepared 
this  post-puberal  period,  but  this  direction  will  have  to  take 
the  greatest  account  of  the  germinal  maturity  which  is  not 
the  functional  maturity,  since  a  condition  of  great  impor- 
tance still  is  missing,  but  which  is  found  at  every  instant 
solicited  by  the  trend  itself  of  psychical  culture. 

Before  puberty,  in  the  course  of  agenital  life,  psychical 
activity  is  entirely  free.  The  cerebral  function  is  in  readi- 
ness, since  somatic  perfection  is  not  a  functional  condition 
for  the  brain,  since  the  immature  germen  lies  dormant,  since 
finally,  the  brain  is  in  possession  of  all  its  cellules,  which 
have  no  more  to  do  than  to  be  hypertrophied,  that  is,  de- 
veloped to  an  unusual  degree. 

It  depends  upon  education  whether  cerebral  hypertrophy 
becomes  a  riches  or  a  poverty,  a  benefit  or  a  menace  for  so- 
ciety as  for  the  individual.  To  leave  this  work  of  hyper- 
trophy to  be  effected  unrestrainedly,  is  to  abandon  the  cere- 
bral "furniture"  (ameublement)  to  the  street,  to  the  educa- 
tional carelessness  of  society,  which  accumulates  hideous  ex- 
amples with  a  monstrous  blindness  of  will. 

Education  is  entirely  responsible  for  the  worth  of  the 
cerebral  acquisitions  of  the  whole  period  of  infancy.  Dur- 
ing this  period  of  "agenital  life"  the  influence  of  the  germen 
makes  itself  felt  somatically  or  cerebrally,  only  in  the  anor- 
mal,  and,  at  least  for  the  pathological  state,  it  is  of  educa- 
tion that  it  is  necessary  to  demand  account  for  any  de- 
viation. 


CHAPTER  III 

VARIOUS    PEDAGOGICAL    APPLICATIONS 

Pubescents  and  non-pubescent s. — Their  somatic  and  psychi- 
cal differences.  Pedagogical  deductions. — "Educative 
movement"  of  each  organ. — Deference  to  the  law  of  al- 
ternation.— Growth  and  intelligence. — Position  of 
scholar  in  schoolroom,  necessity  of  varying  it. 

PUBESCENTS  and  non-pubescent s— The  life  of  the 
child,  until  his  transformation  into  an  adult,  forms 
two  parts  with  puberty  as  the  center.  The  child  is  pre- 
puberal  or  he  is  post-puberal,  if  one  may  thus  express  him- 
self, and  more  simply,  the  child,  the  scholar,  is  pubescent  or 
he  is  not,  the  puberal  period  itself  being  only  a  point  around 
which  gravitate  the  disclosing  transformations,  which  tend 
towards  the  desirable  perfections  for  the  integral  conserva- 
tion of  the  race. 

Prepuberal,  that  is  the  child.  Post-puberal,  that  is  the 
youth.  The  child  continues  to  grow  into  the  youth,  but 
we  know  what  profound  differences  mark  this  second  part 
of  development. 

This  fact  is  capital  for  the  educator  and  explains  for 
him  the  different  fate  of  the  same  procedures  in  regard  to 
the  same  child  at  these  two  periods,  or  in  regard  to  schol- 
ars of  whom,  although  of  near  ages,  some  are  pubescent  and 
others  are  non-pubescent. 

Somatic  and  psychical  difference  between  pubescents  and 
non-pubescent s. — Their  bodies  are  at  different  degrees  of  de- 

142 


Various  Pedagogical  Applications  143 

velopment  which  their  proportions  express  clearly.  Their 
brains  may  be  very  much  alike,  if  their  education  and  their 
culture  have  been  the  same ;  but  the  brain  of  the  non-pubes- 
cent is  free;  the  brain  of  the  pubescent  is  under  the  influ- 
ences of  the  conjunctive  proliferation  of  puberty  and  of  the 
germen. 

Outside  of  these  cerebral  conditions  and  outside  of  the 
mentality  which  ensues,  the  phenomena  of  augmentation,  of 
reduction  or  of  arrest,  of  total  growth  or  of  involution,  af- 
firm this  distinction  between  the  prepubescent  and  the  post- 
pubescent.  The  special  pathological  and  para-pathological 
troubles  of  puberty  complete  the  establishing  of  the  dif- 
ference. 

Let  us  understand  thoroughly:  "special  pathology"  does 
not  signify  here  all  the  affections  to  which  the  puberal  pe- 
riod is  exposed.  By  special  puberal  pathology,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  understand  the  troubles  provoked  by  the  very  es- 
sence of  the  phenomenon  of  puberty ;  those  which  are  pro- 
duced only  at  the  moment  of  puberty,  around  it  and  because 
of  it.  The  troubles  which  constitute  the  special  pathology 
of  puberty,  are,  in  proper  terms,  the  deviations  from  the 
physiological  condition  which  result  from  irregular  growth 
and  from  poor  placental  nutrition,  just  as,  in  a  large  meas- 
ure, of  the  alimentation  of  the  year  which  follows  birth. 

The  non-pubescent  is  a  lad  who  is  separated  by  a  greater 
or  less  number  of  years  from  the  adult  state ;  the  pubescent 
is  a  youth  who  is  at  a  precise  distance  from  his  nubility,  who 
will  be  an  adult  in  five  years,  if  he  is  beginning  his  puberty, 
in  four  years  if  it  has  appeared  the  preceding  year,  in  three 
if  the  dawn  of  puberty  dates  two  years  back  in  him.  This 
youth  is  only  seventeen  }Tears  old,  and  he  is  already  an  adult 
because  he  has  been  pubescent  from  the  age  of  twelve  years, 
as  in  the  case  cited  above  of  the  twins  of  which  one,  not  yet 


144  Growth  During  School  Age 

pubescent,  will  be  nubile  at  the  earliest  at  twenty-two  years. 

Pedagogical  deductions. — You  will  indeed  foresee  that  the 
process  of  education  or  instruction  suitable  for  one  is  in 
no  way  appropriate  to  the  other.  According  to  that,  you 
will  comprehend  further,  that,  excepting  the  family  fire- 
side, boys  so  different  as  pubescent  and  non-pubescent  are, 
cannot  dwell  together,  share  the  same  life,  exchange  ideas 
without  harm  for  the  non-pubescents  who  will  not  delay  imi- 
tating the  pubescents  in  all  their  doings  and  acts ;  this  will 
be  injurious  to  both,  but  it  offers  for  the  non-pubescents  a 
veritable  danger.  From  that  source  spring  disorders  too 
often  irreparable. 

Recall  what  puberal  alternation  of  organic  growth  has 
taught  us.  The  brain  which  possesses  the  cellules  which  it 
had  already  since  birth,  cellules  which  it  has  not  at  all  re- 
newed, of  which  it  has  not  increased  the  number  but  only 
the  dimensions,  the  brain  is  going  to  become  adult  at  the 
time  when  puberty  dawns ;  it  will  lock  up  in  its  gangue  hence- 
forth inextensible,  the  instruction  gathered  earlier;  it  will 
graft  the  new  notions  on  the  earlier  acquisitions ;  all  cerebral 
elaboration  will  bear,  more  or  less  apparent,  more  or  less  dis- 
simulated, the  imprint  of  the  instruction  and  of  the  education 
received  up  to  that  time. 

Before  puberty  you  have  had  the  field  open  to  all  culture, 
but  also  to  all  imitation,  to  rapid  and  precise  assimilation. 
Look  to  the  examples,  and,  if  unfortunately  the  family  has 
not  taken  this  care  before  you,  educators,  apply  yourselves 
at  the  earliest  possible  time  to  the  task  of  correcting  the 
moral  and  psychological  deformities  and  do  your  best,  but 
do  not  hope  to  efface  anything  whatever.  Hasten  to  utilize 
the  prepuberal  liberty  of  the  child's  mind,  for  tomorrow, 
dominated  by  the  triumphant  germen,  he  will  become  clumsy 


Various  Pedagogical  Applications  145 

and  subject  to  fatigue,  almost  closed  in  the  domains  where 
he  was  the  most  open. 

Happy  if  your  sowing  has  been  done  with  tact,  with  dis- 
cernment, if  the  examples  with  which  the  senses  have  fur- 
nished the  brain  are  all  stamped  in  the  coin  of  a  pure  moral- 
ity. For,  no  one  can  count  on  taking  away  from  the  cere- 
bral museum  the  image  of  an  evil  act,  the  immoral  scene 
which  an  imprudence  has  suspended  there  in  past  time.  It 
remains  there  and  its  recall  can  carry  along  with  it  the 
worst  consequences  to  remote  repercussions.  Puberty  will 
soon  be  initiated,  and  the  youth  will  make  you  pay  dear 
for  }rour  errors  towards  the  child,  for  your  forgetfulness, 
your  negligence. 

There  is  an  educative  moment  for  each  organ. — Each  or- 
gan, according  to  its  development  and  its  possibilities  has  its 
"educative  moment,"  a  moment  more  or  less  extended  in 
time,  but  in  which  the  organ  will  really  offer  an  excellent 
state  of  educative  receptivity,  if  one  has  taken  care  to  pre- 
pare it.  Thus  the  moment  for  the  brain  is  prepuberal  by 
the  motives  which  we  know.  It  begins  at  the  early  hour 
when  the  senses  commence  to  inform  the  brain. 

It  belongs  to  the  educator  to  conform  his  orientation, 
to  adapt  his  method  to  what  he  can  discover  from  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  little  child.  Individuality  exists.  It  is  a 
question  of  knowing  how  to  discover  it.  To  the  educator 
comes  the  appreciation  of  the  dosage  of  notions,  but  above 
all  of  their  choice.  For  the  lessons  here  are  all  made  up  of 
example,  of  manner  of  living,  of  evenness  of  humor,  of  firm 
and  gentle  will,  of  order,  of  regularity  in  duties ;  they  are 
made  of  images,  of  those  very  ones  which  are  hung  on  the 
walls  of  the  chamber,  forming  the  habitual  horizon  of  the 
child. 


146  Growth  During  School  Age 

Prepared  since  the  first  hours  of  understanding,  the  di- 
rection will  be  excellently  done  and  more  and  more  easy. 
Doubtless,  in  course  of  the  years  which  constitute  the  second 
period  of  evolution,  from  six  to  about  fifteen  years,  by  the 
side  of  the  useful  provisions  there  are  also  made  the  useless 
and  the  dangerous,  and  that,  in  spite  of  the  educator  who, 
however,  will  be  able  to  overtake,  at  an  advantageous  time, 
the  fleeing  personality  of  his  pupil,  if  he  has  been  informed 
accurately  on  it  by  some  periodical  examinations,  by  a 
methodical  and  wise  observation. 

It  is  clear  that  an  educator  warned  in  this  way,  will  not 
follow,  in  order  to  reach  the  citadel  of  the  child  whom  he 
directs,  any  paths  whatsoever,  but  those  which  the  notions 
acquired  on  the  individuality  of  the  child  mark  out  for  him. 
He  will  have  to  conduct  himself  according  to  the  knowledge 
of  his  temperament,  otherwise  expressed,  of  the  share  of 
energy  of  which  he  disposes,  and  of  the  fashion  in  which 
he  dispenses  it,  of  the  rapidity  or  the  slowness  with  which 
he  recuperates  and  of  the  time  which  he  needs  for  this  re- 
cuperation. He  will  guide  himself  by  the  relation  between 
the  duration  of  effort  and  the  duration  of  recuperative  re- 
pose, -  (see  the  individual  formula), 
e 

Deference  to  the  law  of  alternation. — You  cannot  give 
yourself  an  idea  of  the  influence  on  the  present  and  future 
organic  functioning,  of  the  deference  or  of  the  transgression 
of  a  phase  of  repose  after  a  phase  of  effort.  The  organic 
alternations  of  activity  and  of  repose  are  applied  to  all  the 
manifestations  of  the  life  of  the  child  as  to  his  growth.  It 
is  imposed  on  the  speedy  as  on  the  slow ;  the  former  succeeds, 
nevertheless,  to  lengthen  temporarily  the  phase  of  activity 
at  the  expense  of  the  phase  of  repose. 

Transgression  of  the  natural  alternation  of  the  individual 


Various  Pedagogical  Applications  147 

leads  to  an  organic  unbalancing  for  a  short  time,  or  for  a 
longer  time  (jading)  according  to  the  individual  resources; 
in  those  who  resist,  thanks  to  the  riches  of  their  resources, 
it  happens  that  later  an  organ  causes  them  to  feel  that 
there  is  suffering  for  it  (heart,  brain,  digestive  apparatus), 
or  that  the  advantageous  effects  sought  for  by  impulse  do 
not  subsist. 

Alternation  and  intellectual  growth. — In  the  intellectual 
order,  the  effects  of  transgression  of  alternation  are  not  bet- 
ter. The  teacher  has  the  greatest  interest  in  causing  this 
law  of  nature  to  be  respected  by  all ;  the  application  of  it 
to  scholars  demands,  nevertheless,  skill  and  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  their  individuality,  the  phases  of  work  and  of  repose 
varying  their  relative  duration  with  each  one. 

But  this  application  of  the  law  of  somatic  alternation 
to  cerebral  activity  is,  for  the  instant,  outside  of  our  do- 
main. It  represents  one  of  the  aspects  of  the  relation  of 
growth  with  intelligence,  it  is  true ;  and  this  chapter  which 
comprises  the  relations  of  the  growth  of  the  brain  with  its 
psychical  manifestations  on  the  one  hand  and  with  the 
growth  of  the  soma  on  the  other,  which  makes  a  study  of 
the  various  influences  on  cerebral  development  of  the  factors 
capable  of  accelerating  it,  of  retarding  it,  of  arresting  it, 
and  their  repercussion  on  the  intelligence,  could  be  made  the 
object  of  a  study  which  would  henceforth  have  a  solidly 
established  somatic  basis. 

Moreover,  you  will  find  matter  for  reflection  on  this 
subject  in  the  elements  met  with  in  the  course  of  the  chap- 
ters which  precede.  I  call  your  attention  specially  to  the 
augmentations  by  great  alternations  of  the  brain,  of  the 
soma,  and  of  the  germen  (Part  II,  Chap.  II),  to  the  possible 
consequences  of  irregular  growth  of  puberty,  which  can 
harm  the  growth  of  the  cranium  in  function  of  that  of  the 


148  Growth  During  School  Age 

brain,  as  it  harms  that  of  the  spinal  chord  in  function  of 
that  of  the  spinal  colum  (Part  II,  Chap.  I).  I  point  out 
to  you  again  the  law  of  alternation  (pp.  106  and  116),  tem- 
perament, etc. 

Position  of  the  scholar  in  the  schoolroom;  necessity  of 
varying  it. — In  the  schoolroom,  the  respect  of  the  law  of  al- 
ternation interests  simultaneously  the  body  and  the  mind 
of  the  child.  One  of  its  modalities  is  formulated  in  these 
terms :  The  sitting  posture  of  the  pupil  is  not  a  position 
of  repose ;  the  pupil  is  required  to  maintain  it  a  long  time 
in  immobility,  and  his  reactions  show  the  ill  effects  of  it. 

Whatever  be  the  excellence  of  the  combination  desk-seat, 
and  we  shall  see  further  on  that  it  is  far  from  being  excel- 
lent, immobility  in  a  fixed  posture  rather  soon  becomes  a  tor- 
ment for  the  child,  and  degenerates  into  suffering  if  it  is 
prolonged  further.  The  torment  is  already  manifested  by 
the  frequent  displacing  of  the  limbs,  and  of  the  trunk;  it 
also  exerts  an  influence  on  attention.  The  suffering  dis- 
turbs the  physical  and  intellectual  normality  of  the  child, 
it  places  the  normal  state  in  danger  if  it  lasts  too  long  and 
in  this  case  acts  injuriously  on  his  moral  condition. 

There  are  only  two  positions  of  repose  for  man, — the 
lying  position  and  squatting  position  (to  squat  down,  to 
sit  on  one's  heels.  Old  women  squat  near  the  fire).1  This 
latter  posture  is  also  that  of  the  baby  playing  in  the  sand, 
that  of  the  scholar  playing  at  marbles,  that  of  the  Arab  on 
the  public  square.  At  souk  and  at  the  coffee-house,  the 
Arab  crosses  his  folded-up  legs  and  takes  another  posture 
which  is  the  position  seated  on  the  ground,  analogous  to 
that  of  tailors  formerly  on  their  wide  table  without  a  sup- 
port for  the  back. 

1  Littre. 


Various  Pedagogical  Applications  149 

There  is  relative  repose  for  the  body  only  in  some  pos- 
tures approaching  more  or  less  these  two  positions.  The 
sitting  position  is  intermediate  to  the  lying  and  the  squatting 
position.  It  partakes  of  both,  and  more  of  the  one  than 
of  the  other  according  to  the  elevation  of  the  seat  or  the 
inclination  of  the  back;  but  it  is  neither  one  nor  the  other 
and  gives  no  repose  if  it  is  not  modified  in  the  direction  of 
the  squatting  position  or  in  the  direction  of  the  reclining 
position. 

It  is  this  latter  which  a  person  seated  on  a  free  seat  seeks 
when  he  has  no  fixed  point  of  support  for  his  feet  and  lifts 
the  forward  part  of  his  chair,  throwing  himself  back  and 
so  approaching  a  horizontal  position.  The  scholar  corrects 
in  the  same  way  the  sitting  posture  when  he  lets  himself 
slide  down  on  his  chair  until  his  hip-bones  correspond  to  the 
edge  of  the  seat,  his  body  describing  a  strong  curve  at 
lumbo-dorso-cervical  convexity  in  order  to  allow  its  superior 
part  to  assume  the  direction  of  the  back.  The  child  is  then 
said  to  be  "seated  on  his  back"  by  his  parents  and  his 
teacher  who  oppose  this  position  without  success. 

If  the  disposition  of  the  seat  in  relation  to  the  desk,  its 
fixity,  the  existence  of  a  back  almost  vertical,  do  not  leave 
to  the  child  the  liberty  of  "sitting  on  his  back,"  he  does  not 
delay  placing  himself  obliquely  on  his  rigid  chair,  and  thus 
enables  himself  to  correct  in  the  direction  of  the  squatting 
position  the  disadvantages  of  the  angular  posture  which  the 
furniture  imposes  on  him  so  that  one  might  call  "ortho- 
stat,"  the  right  angle  prevaling  at  the  point  of  the  bi-coty- 
loid  axis  of  the  femur  and  of  the  axis  of  the  knees ;  his  body, 
abandoning  the  fatiguing  rectitude,  inclines  forward,  sinks 
down,  in  some  fashion,  forming  a  posterior  convexity  of 
the  vertebral  column  (hypnosis)  which,  through  the  clothes. 


150  Growth  During  School  Age 

appears  uniform  and  greatly  curved.  On  the  child  stripped, 
one  observes  2  at  the  level  of  the  lumbar  region,  a  promi- 
nence, a  veritable  hump  which  is  recognized  by  the  spiny 
processes  of  the  third  and  fourth  lumbar  vertebrae,  and  to 
which  corresponds,  in  front,  a  ventral  concavity  more  or  less 
angular  whose  summit  is  formed  by  a  furrow-like  depression 
passing  through  the  navel  or  doubling  itself  into  two  folds 
of  which  the  one  rests  above,  the  other  below  the  navel 
scar. 

It  happens  frequently  that  the  spinal  curvature  assumes 
the  aspect  of  a  fracture  of  the  column  at  the  level  of  the 
prominence  of  the  spinal  process  (apophysis),  above  which 
the  column  forms  almost  a  straight  line,  inclined  from  bot- 
tom to  top  and  from  behind  forward,  while  below  it,  the 
lumbro-sacral  portion  remains  in  a  vertical  plane. 

It  is  necessary  that  the  child  feel  a  quite  imperious  need 
of  repose  to  resort  to  this  mixed  posture,  which  is  still  a 
fatigue,  because  it  represents  only  the  rude  outline  of  a 
position  of  repose  and  has  no  other  advantage  than  to  re- 
lax certain  groups  of  muscles  and  to  displace  a  trifle  the 
place  of  pressure. 

Either  the  school  furniture  suppresses  the  fatigue  of  the 
sitting  posture  and  removes  thus  for  the  scholar  all  cause 
of  seeking  a  position  of  repose;  or  else  the  school  furniture 
does  not  suppress  the  fatigue  and  then  it  incurs  a  heavy 
responsibility  in  fettering  all  the  positions  of  repose,  and 
exposes  under  this  head  the  scholar  to  the  known  effects 
of  daily  repeated  fatigue. 

The  remedy  is  precise  and  simple :  the  child  must  be  able 
to  vary  his  position  in- the  course  of  studying,  in  the  course 
of  the  recitation ;  he  must  be  enabled  to  stand  up  and  be 
seated   alternately.     The   duration    of   the    sitting   posture 

sDr.  P.  Godin.    U  attitude  scolaire:  FEducateur  moderne,  1906. 


Various  Pedagogical  Applications  151 

is  indicated  by  the  approach  of  fatigue.  In  virtue  of  the 
law  of  alternation,  it  is  of  interest  to  avoid  everything  which 
could  cause  a  transgression  of  the  phases  of  alternation,  a 
transgression  which  is  injurious  for  the  harmony  of  the 
body  and  which  can  carry  with  it  a  state  of  illness.  Fatigue 
which  is  itself  born  of  transgression  by  too  prolonged  ef- 
fort of  several  phases  of  repose,  implies,  once  acquired,  a 
transgression  of  several  phases  of  effort  and  puts  a  check 
on  individual  activity. 

In  kind,  fatigue  appeared  on  an  average  in  the  classes 
where  I  have  observed  and  experimented,  at  the  end  of  35 
to  45  minutes.  One  should  then  cause  the  position  to  be 
varied  from  half  hour  to  half  hour.  That  makes  a  single 
change  of  position  in  the  course  of  a  recitation  of  one  hour. 

When  the  furniture  of  Feret,  of  Mauchin  of  Geneva,  of 
Schindler,  even  that  of  Kottman,  the  optostat  of  Dr.  Rolland 
of  Toulouse,  that  of  Brudenne  will  be  anatomically  individu- 
alized according  to  the  simple  method  which  I  propose,  it 
can  be  utilized  with  the  greatest  advantage,  because  it  facili- 
tates this  change  of  station  without  trouble  for  instruction. 
But  it  is  unusable  so  long  as  it  is  not  anatomically  indi- 
vidualized. 

Once  the  seat  is  suitably  low  there  will  be  left  to  the  legs 
a  freedom  of  which  the  muscles  and  the  circulation  will 
have  benefited.  The  erect  position  will  perfect  the  realiza- 
tion of  this  beneficent  action  which  will  be  translated,  as 
experimentation  has  demonstrated  to  me,  by  the  substitution 
of  the  "euryplastic"  for  the  "macroplastic,"  by  the  increase 
in  girth  of  the  lower  limbs,  in  a  more  just  proportion  with 
the  growth  in  length.  And  one  will  see  fewer  and  fewer  of 
those  poor  collegians,  "waders,"  awkward  on  their  too  long 
legs,  easily  fatigued,  a  soil  too  well  prepared  for  all  bacil- 
lary  graftings. 


CHAPTER  IV 

INDIVIDUALIZATION    OF    SCHOOL    FURNITURE 

It  is  "seated"  and  not  "standing"  that  the  scholar  makes  use 
of  it. — Error  resulting  from  the  measure  of  the  schol- 
ar's height  standing  taken  as  guide  in  the  assigning  of  a 
seat. — Height  standing  and  height  sitting. — Anatom- 
ical and  physiological  conditions  which  must  govern  the 
choice  of  individual  furniture. — Simple  means  of  con- 
forming to  it. — Working  manual. 

IT  is  seated  and  not  standing  that  the  scholar  makes  use 
of  it. — As  it  is  not  within  the  ability  of  all  teachers  to 
have  the  position  varied  in  the  course  of  school  time,  and  be- 
sides as  all  the  instruction  does  not  allow  of  changes  of  posi- 
tion, I  have  attempted  to  establish  between  the  child  and 
the  furniture  which  is  destined  for  him,  a  relation  as  close 
as  possible,  to  "individualize"  school  furniture,  and  I  have 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  long  communication  to  the  con- 
gress of  the  Socictcs  Savant es  in  1912  at  Paris. 

What  is  "individualization"  of  school  furniture?  It  is 
simply  adapting  it  to  the  child,  to  the  very  one  who  is  des- 
tined to  make  use  of  it.  This  adaptation  can  be  made  only 
in  so  far  as  one  takes  for  guide  the  anatomy  and  the  physi- 
ology of  the  child  in  their  relations  with  the  sitting  posture, 
a  fact  which  has  not  been  sufficiently  taken  into  considera- 
tion up  to  the  present  time. 

It  is  indicated,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  desk  be  adapted 
to  the  real  proportions  of  the  individual,  such  as  they  are 

152 


Individualization  of  School  Furniture  153 

presented  in  the  sitting  posture.  It  is  indispensable  that 
this  anatomical  adapation  subsist  throughout  the  changes 
brought  to  the  proportions  of  the  body  by  growth. 

Up  to  the  present,  and  that  in  the  whole  world,  it  is 
stature,  that  is,  the  height  of  the  individual  in  the  standing 
position,  which  has  been  taken  for  guide  and  for  regulation 
of  all  the  classifications  of  school  furniture :  in  England  the 
bi-personal  system  of  Moss  offers  five  sizes.  The  "single 
desk"  of  the  United  States  takes  account  of  eight  different 
sizes.  Switzerland,  according  to  the  dimensions  of  Guil- 
laume,  accepts  eight  sizes  also.  The  Belgian  Council  of 
Hygiene  makes  twelve  categories  according  to  size.  M. 
Greard  reduced  to  three  the  number  of  sizes  according  to 
which  desks  must  be  constructed.  And  it  is  also  size  which 
served  as  guide  for  the  studies  of  the  School  Commission  of 
Hygiene.  The  latest  Congresses  relative  to  the  questions 
of  hygiene  in  schools  have  formulated  no  protest  at  all 
against  this  method.  And  when  Cardot,  Bagnaux,  Fahrner 
lay  claim  to  some  multiple  measures,  they  see  them  only  as 
complements  of  the  factor  height.  The  optostat  of  Dr. 
Rolland  answers  to  three  sizes. 

Errors  resulting  from  the  measure  of  the  scholars  height 
standing  taken  as  guide  in  the  assigning  of  a  seat. — Height 
standing  and  height  sitting. — Very  precise  knowledge  of  the 
"Proportions  du  Corps,"  x  of  their  variations  from  one  in- 
dividual to  another,  of  their  variations  in  the  same  individual 
in  travail  of  growth  from  one  age  to  another,  leave  no  doubt 
at  all  on  the  absence  of  fixed  correlations  between  stature 
and  the  reciprocal  relations  of  the  segments  which  enter  into 
the  constitution. 

1Prof.  L.  Manouvrier.  Etudes  sur  les  rapports  anthropometriques  en 
general  et  sur  les  principales  proportions  du  corps. 

Dr.  Paul  Godin.  Les  "Proportions  du  corps  pendant  la  Croissance." 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris.     Paris,  Maloine. 


154  Growth  During  School  Age 

Let  us  content  ourselves,  for  example,  to  consider  the  two 
great  segments,  the  lower  limbs  and  the  bust.  By  bust,  we 
know,  is  understood  everything  which  rises  above  the  plane 
of  the  seat  of  the  individual  seated.  The  relation  of  the 
limbs  S  to  the  bust  B  is  only  exceptionally  the  same  in  two 
boys  of  the  same  height,  and,  as  a  necessary  corollary?  two 
individuals  of  equal  height  in  a  standing  position  become 
of  unequal  height  as  soon  as  they  are  seated  on  the  same 
bench.     Plate  XI. 

This  fact,  so  easy  to  verify,  suffices  to  show  to  what  errors 
the  systematic  utilization  of  height  can  lead  when  it  is  a 
matter  of  adapting  individually  a  piece  of  furniture  which 
the  child  will  use  only  to  seat  himself.  If,  in  fact,  with 
Feret,  Mauchin,  Schindler,  Kottmann,  Brudenne,  it  is  de- 
sired to  adapt  a  piece  of  furniture  for  sitting  to  a  stand- 
ing position,  it  must  undergo  a  veritable  transformation 
which  carries  with  it  a  complicated  mechanism. 

Here  is  a  graph  which  gives  an  idea  of  what  becomes  of 
the  line  of  the  heads  in  ten  children  of  thirteen  years  of  age 
and  in  ten  boys  of  seventeen  years  of  age  according  as  they 
are  standing  or  seated.  Plate  XI.  Erect,  it  is  a  straight 
horizontal  line ;  seated,  it  is  a  line  broken  in  accordion  bel- 
lows, as  M.  L.  Manouvrier  has  demonstrated. 

The  relation     — ,  relation  of  bust  (B)  to  lower  limbs  (S) 

governs  over  the  relation  of  height  between  the  plane  of  the 
seat  and  the  plane  of  the  desk  top.     The  distance  between 

T> 

these  two  planes  is  a  result  of  the  value  of  the  relation         _ 

and  it  would  be  indispensable  to  calculate  this  relation  if  it 
were  not  found  implied  in  the  determination  of  the  fixed 
distance  from  the  desk  top  to  the  eyes. 

Anatomical  conditions  which  must  govern  the  choice  of 


Individualization  of  School  Furniture  155 

individual  furniture. — Wo  must  deduce  from  what  precedes : 
1.  that  the  size  cannot  serve  as  regulation  for  classification 
of  desks;  2.  that  two  factors  are  substituted  for  this  unique 
factor,  the  limbs  and  the  bust;  3.  that  each  of  them  con- 
cerns distinctly  one  of  the  elements  of  the  furniture,  the 
limbs  in  front  to  guide  in  the  determination  of  the  height 
of  the  bench,  and  the  bust  alone  being  capable  of  dictating 
the  difference  between  the  seat  and  the  desk  top. 

So  the  constructor  will  have  to  build  some  desks  separable 
from  their  seats,  any  desk  whatever  capable  of  being  asso- 
ciated with  any  bench  whatever  of  the  model  accepted,  the 
joining  and  separating  (by  nuts,  for  example),  capable  of 
being  effected  with  equal  facility  and  rapidity.  A  high  desk 
will  be  joined  to  a  low  seat  and  vice  versa,  following  need. 
The  high  desk  to  a  low  seat  will  correspond  to  a  long  bust 
supported  by  short  pelvic  members.  A  seat  relatively  high, 
associated  with  a  desk  whose  top  is  relatively  low,  in  this 
sense  that  its  plane  is  near  that  of  the  bench,  will  be  adapted 
to  a  scholar  of  a  wholly  different  structure  (macroskeletal), 
although,  perhaps,  of  equal  size,  with  short  bust  and  long 
legs.  If  we  name  the  first  of  these  two  scholars  X  and  the 
second  Y,  the  furniture  for  X  cannot  be  used  by  Y,  and  vice 
versa,  except  at  the  price  of  discomfort,  of  suffering  per- 
haps, and,  in  any  case,  to  the  great  damage  of  regularity 
of  development  and  of  capacity  for  work. 

In  the  course  of  growth,  the  respective  proportions  of 
X  and  Y  can  remain  the  same,  but  one  must  rather  expect 

that  each  of  them  will  see  modified  his  relation    —      which, 

S 

very  generally,  will  be  shown  different  according  as  it  will 

be    considered    in    the    same    adolescent,    before    or    after  - 

2 Dr.  Paul  Godin.  Alternances  des  accroissements  au  cours  du  d6vel- 
oppement  du  corps  hiunain.  Societe  de  Biologie,  seance  du  -25  juin  1910, 
t.  LXVIIL  p.   119. 


156  Growth  During  Scliool  Age 

puberty.  It  is  because  in  reality  height  owes  the  greatest 
part  of  its  development,  before  puberty  to  the  lower  limbs, 
after  puberty,  to  the  bust,  as  we  established  it  in  studying 
the  laws  of  puberal  alternation.  Plate  X,  A.  There  will 
then  be  cause  for  repeating  the  work  of  adaptation  of  desks 
every  semester,  every  year  at  least. 

Physiological  conditions  which  must  govern  the  choice  of 
individual  furniture.  Simple  means  of  conforming  to  it. — 
Let  us  now  examine  the  physiological  principles  upon  which 
individual  adaptation  must  rest. 

(a)  The  child,  the  scholar  needs  to  be  seated  relatively 
low. 

Every  fatigued  person  seeks  rest  on  a  low  seat,  a  seat 
whose  edge  and  plane  compress  at  no  point  whatever  the 
whole  part  adjacent  to  the  knee  on  the  posterior  side  of  the 
thigh.  This  pressure,  to  which  no  one  gives  heed,  is  an 
actual  cause  of  discomfort  which  produces  in  the  scholar 
in  school  time  frequent  removal  of  the  lower  limbs,  attrib- 
uted too  exclusively  to  the  "need  of  movement"  of  children. 
In  the  long  run,  the  compression  of  the  posterior  side  of  the 
thigh  in  its  inferior  third  especially,  determines  some  cir- 
culatory, nutritive,  and  nervous  troubles,  and  contributes  to 
the  thickness  of  the  shape  of  the  leg  compared  to  that  of  the 
Arab's  legs,  for  example ;  it  causes  in  many  adolescents  a 
tendency  to  fatigue  in  their  lower  limbs  of  which  the  reason 
is  sought  elsewhere,  or  for  which  they  are  reproached  as 
pretext  for  laziness.  Now,  a  seat  suitably  low,  adapted  to 
the  height  of  the  leg  of  the  subject  {without  taking  the 
slightest  account  of  his  height)  avoids  this  disadvantage. 
The  suitable  height  is  furnished  by  the  culminating  point 
of  the  anterior  tubercle  (tuberosity)  of  the  tibia,  so  visible 
on  the  bare  leg  of  the  child,  especially  of  the  profile. 

(b)  The  scholar  must  be  able  to  distinguish  on  the  desk 


Individualization  of  School  Furniture  157 

written  and  printed  characters  without  having  to  lean  for- 
ward, either  with  the  head  or  the  cervico-dorsal  spine. 

The  distance  of  35  centimeters  between  the  desk  and  the 
eve  is  necessary  and  sufficient.  Everv  child  with  normal  sirHit 
(emmetropia)  or  rendered  such  by  corrective  glasses,  will 
distinguish  clearly  the  written  or  printed  text,  as  well  as 
the  contour  of  the  letters  traced  by  the  point  of  his  pen,  if 
the  binocular  plane  is  at  35  centimeters  from  the  point  of 
the  desk  where  his  pen  is  writing.  It  is  advisable  then  that 
this  distance  be  reckoned  between  the  binocular  line  and 
the  center  of  the  desk. 

In  general,  the  inclination  will  be  less  for  short  busts  for 
the  macroskele  (Manouvrier)  ;  it  will  be  more  accentuated 
for  the  long  bust  (brachyskele).  This  difference  answers  to 
some  different  correlative  proportions  of  the  length  of  the 
bust  in  these  two  groups ;  it  has  for  aim  to  assure  the 
natural  support  of  the  forearm  on  the  top  of  the  desk  with- 
out elevation  or  lowering  of  the  shoulder,  condition  of  the 
third  physiological  principle  (c)  of  individual  adaptation. 

Such  are  the  notions  which,  in  point  of  view  of  individual- 
ization, must  complete  the  general  rules  touching  "zero  dis- 
tance," the  approved  width  for  the  desk,  furniture  with  a 
single  seat. 

A  consequence  of  the  physiological  reasons  which  demand 
the  low  seat,  is,  besides  the  foot-rest,  the  existence  of  a 
floor,  of  a  surface  extending  under  the  seat  like  under  the 
desk  which  the  scholar  can  touch  with  both  his  feet  in  diverse 
positions  which  his  legs  take  spontaneously.  Another  con- 
sequence is  the  adoption  of  a  back*  such  as  Dr.  Dufestal 
demands  in  his  school  hygiene,3  "a  back  slightly  inclined  and 
rising  to  the  shoulderblades." 

In  resume  we  desire  a  bench  with  a  seat  in  horizontal 
3  Paris,  O.  Doin,  edit.,  1910,  p.  76. 


158  Growth  During  Scliool  Age 

plane,  corresponding  to  the  level  of  the  anterior  tibial  cul- 
men  of  the  child  which  must  sit  there,  and  supplied  with  a 
back  slightly  inclined  and  rising  to  the  shoulderblades ;  the 
width  of  the  seat  will  be  equal  to  its  height.  Desk  top  in- 
clined more  for  the  long  busts  (great  "difference")  and  less 
for  the  short  busts  (little  "difference"),  the  center  of  each 
desk  surface  being  for  each  scholar,  at  thirty-five  centi- 
meters below  the  binocular  line  (and  the  other  points  of 
the  surface,  at  a  distance  close  to  thirty-five  centimeters), 
while  permitting  the  forearm  to  be  placed  upon  it  without 
inclining  the  head  or  trunk  or  that  the  shoulder  has  to  be 
raised. 

Working  manual. — The  working  manual  designed  to  de- 
termine for  each  one  the  appropriate  seat  and  desk  will  be 
quite  simple. 

On  the  return  of  the  classes,  in  a  room  of  the  building, 
are  ranged  on  one  side  some  stools  of  progressively  increas- 
ing height  and  numbered  from  one  to  twenty,  on  the  other 
side  some  desks  whose  inclination  can  be  varied  at  will  around 
a  horizontal  axis  passing  through  the  center  of  the  desk 
top ;  the  height  of  these  tables  is  different  and  they  are 
also  numbered  from  one  to  twenty.  These  are  the  trial 
desks. 

The  heights  of  the  stools  will  succeed  each  other  from 
five  to  five  millimeters  and  will  commence  at  thirty-two  or 
thirty-three  centimeters,  in  order  to  end  at  forty-two  or 
forty-three  centimeters  if  it  is  in  a  lycee,  with  some  supple- 
mentary numbers  above  and  below  for  the  exceptional  cases. 

It  will  be  the  same  for  the  heights  of  the  desks  of  this 
trial  furniture  which  will  be  graduated  from  five  to  five 
millimeters  between  fifty-two  and  sixty-two,  for  example. 

In  the  aforesaid  room,  on  the  dav  of  entrance  of  the 
classes,,  the  scholar  presents  himself  with  bare  knees,  dis- 


Individualization  of  School  Furniture  159 

engaged  above  and  below.  He  passes  before  the  row  of 
stools.  The  expert,  supplied  with  a  flat  rale,  halts  the  child 
as  soon  as  the  plane  of  a  seat  corresponds  to  the  level  of 
the  prominence,  the  anterior  tubercle  of  the  tibia.  This 
stool,  which  is  found  numbered  six,  let  us  say,  is  taken  to 
a  desk.  The  child  seats  himself  at  the  successive  desks 
until,  his  body  remaining  vertical,  the  T-square  of  thirty- 
five  centimeters  fills  exactly  the  space  between  his  eyes  and 
the  center  of  the  desk  top.  The  desk  thus  chosen  is  num- 
bered fourteen.  Between  the  plane  of  the  desk  and  that 
of  the  bench,  the  difference  is  large,  it  is  a  case  of  a  long 
bust :  we  will  assume  that  the  inclination  of  the  top  should 
be  18°. 

These  three  numbers  6,  14,  18°  are  entered  on  the  register 
opposite  the  name  of  the  pupil  X.  The  special  assistant 
or  workman  will  join  a  seat  6  with  a  desk  14?  inclined  to  18°. 

In  the  fitting  out  of  the  class  room,  this  high  desk  will 
be  placed  toward  the  rear,  the  first  rows  being  reserved 
for  low  desks,  and  the  seat  of  pupil  X  will  be  located  at  a 
point  on  the  classroom  floor  where  a  number  or  the  name 
of  the  pupil  will  have  been  chalked.  The  procedure  is  the 
same  for  each  scholar. 

At  the  first  entrance  in  the  classroom,  the  master  having 
the  register  under  his  eye  will  have  the  greatest  facility 
in  assigning  the  places  without  disorder.  All  this  is  done 
very  quickly,  and  assures  really  individual  adaptation  of 
desks,  as  I  have  been  able  to  realize  by  numerous  trials 
in  schools. 

As  to   the   degree   of   slope   of   the   desk   top,  it   suffic 
empirically,  to  have  the  obliquity  of  the  desk  varied  in  the 
manner    that    the    support    of   the    forearm   be    secure    and 
easy,  the  center  of  the  desk  top  remaining  invariably  35 
centimeters  from  the  binocular  plane. 


160  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  scholar  is,  in  this  way,  in  possession  of  a  desk  which 
corresponds  truly  to  his  proportions  in  the  sitting  position 
and  is  conceived  in  a  fashion  to  follow  the  changes  which 
growth  will  cause  him  to  undergo. 

The  child  and  the  instruction  are  very  greatly  concerned 
in  the  putting  into  practice  of  this  so  simple  process  which 
is  a  guarantee  for  the  freedom  of  bodily  development  as  for 
freedom  of  mental  activity. 


CHAPTER  V 

CONTROL  OF  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION  BY  THE  AUXANALOGICAL 

METHOD 

Account  to  be  taken  of  growth. — Checking  of  the  effects  of 
exercise  with  the  fixed  bar  on  the  development  of  stat- 
ure, of  the  chest,  of  the  pelvis,  of  the  limbs. — Gymnasts 
and  non-gymnasts. — Various  causes  of  abstention. — 
Conclusions  relative  to  the  results  of  exercise  aimed  at 
and  to  the  method  of  checking. 

ACCOUNT  to  be  taken  of  growth. — We  are  in  posses- 
sion of  a  precise  method  of  determining  the  anatomical 
conditions  presented  by  a  child  at  a  given  moment  of  his 
growth.  In  effecting  this  determination,  before  applying 
to  him  a  regime  of  physical  education  or  a  school  regime, 
and  in  repeating  this  operation  after  several  months  or  sev- 
eral semesters  of  use  of  this  regime,  the  difference  will  ex- 
press clearly  the  gain  realized. 

It  will  be  necessary  nevertheless  to  divide  this  gain  be- 
tween two  factors,  the  contribution  of  spontaneous  growth 
having  been  ceaselessly  added  to  the  contribution  due  to  the 
regime  followed. 

It  is  at  that  point  that  the  necessity  of  the  previous  study 
of  growth  clearly  appears,  as  we  have  just  done,  by  want 
of  which  we  should  be  unable  to  appreciate  better  than  our 
predecessors  the  results  of  any  form  whatever  of  physical 
education  or  of  an  unhealthy  condition  of  development  cre- 
ated for  the  child  by  the  regime  which  he  undergoes. 

161 


162  Growth  During  School  Age 

Let  us  take  for  example  an  exercise  for  the  present  out 
of  fashion, — exercise  on  the  fixed  bar.  The  fixed  bar  was 
scattered  through  all  the  play-grounds  of  the  schools  where 
I  have  observed,  at  the  disposition  of  the  pupils  during 
recreation.  The  exercises  to  which  it  gave  place  were  veri- 
table games,  made  methodical,  however,  by  the  periodical 
gymnastic  lessons,  and  thus  rendered  useful  without  ceasing 
to  be  games. 

In  the  memoir  entitled:  "Du  role  de  l'anthropometrie  en 
education  physique"  [The  role  of  anthropometry  in  physical 
education],  published  in  1901,  and  which  the  "Academie  de 
Medecine"  crowned  in  1912,  I  translated  as  well  as  possible 
the  individual  facts  into  curves.  I  shall  give  you  only 
a  concise  interpretation  of  them,  sufficient,  however,  to  per- 
mit you  to  grasp  thoroughly  the  course  of  an  observation 
which  arises  from  the  experimentation  on  various  sides, 
and  which  is  shaped  by  the  successive  facts.  It  utilizes 
the  guiding  marks  accepted  in  anthropometry  and  the  con- 
tinuous comparison  of  children  in  experiment  with  an  equal 
number  of  children  for  verification. 

I  should  be  happy  to  have  you  find  a  guide  for  your 
educational  or  pedagogical  evaluations  in  this  practical  ex- 
ample of  the  application  of  the  auxanological  method  to  a 
matter  on  which  the  educator  is  questioned  every  day. 

Checking  of  the  effects  of  exercises  with  the  fixed  bar  on 
the  development  of  stature,  of  chest,  of  pelvis,  of  limbs. 
Gymnasts  and  non-gymnasts. 

Stature. — The  individual  curves  I,  /,  of  Plate  XII,  repre- 
sent two  adolescents  who  started  at  143  cm.  and  reached 
finally  164  cm.  The  gymnast  grows  a  trifle  higher  than  the 
non-gymnast,  and  attains  1645  mm. 

The  same  fact  strikes  us  when  we  glance  at  the  follow- 
ing curve.     The  solid  line  is  constantly  as  long,  longer  even 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    163 

than  the  broken  line;  the  gymnast,  of  the  same  height,  at 
fourteen  and  one-half  years,  as  the  non-gymnast,  surpasses 
him  at  eighteen  years.  As  long  as  the  difference  does  not 
rise  above  one  centimeter,  one  must,  however,  consider  that 
there  is  equality,  as  M.  Manouvrier  teaches.  This  is  what 
takes  place  for  the  curves  of  height  I. 

The  superiority  becomes,  on  the  contrary,  absolute  in 
groups  V  and  VII,  in  favor  of  the  gymnasts.  Plate  XII. 
The  design  of  the  two  curves  bearing  the  same  number  i- 
not  the  same.  The  solid  line  approaches  the  straight  line 
much  nearer  than  the  broken  line  does. 

The  comparison  of  the  portions  of  a  solid-line  curve  with 
a  corresponding  broken-line  curve  gives  place  to  some  in- 
teresting remarks.  From  the  point  of  departure,  they  pre- 
sent some  differences  of  length  which  are  pursued  through- 
out the  whole  extent  of  the  curve.  The  components  of  the 
solid  line  have  very  frequently  some  lengths  almost  equal 
between  them ;  those  of  the  broken  lines  are  of  very  unequal 
dimensions. 

Between  two  curves  of  gymnasts,  starting  from  the  same 
figure,  there  are  often  some  striking  resemblances,  and  some- 
times the  figures  are  the  same  at  corresponding  stages.  On 
the  other  hand,  for  the  non-gymnasts,  starting  from  a  com- 
mon height,  no  relations  of  this  kind  can  be  established  at  all. 

Leaving  aside  the  details  of  the  evolution  and  its  rhythm, 
can  we  not  already  draw  from  the  individual  cases  which 
wre  have  just  studied  the  following  deduction?  Of  two  adoles- 
cents of  the  same  height  at  thirteen  and  one-half  years,  the 
one  who  will  attain  the  greatest  height  is  the  gymnast. 

The  individual  cases  analyzed  are  necessarily  few,  but  the 
same  phenomena  are  observed  in  almost  all  those  which  I 
possess. 

It  is  here,  moreover,  that  the  averages  calculated  on  a 


164  Growth  During  School  Age 

great  number  of  particular  curves  come  to  furnish  us  some 
notions  of  such  importance  that  they  will  suffice  to  weaken 
or  ground  the  deduction  which  precedes. 

The  averages  recorded  in  A  and  B  have  been  calculated 
on  100  individuals,  50  of  whom  applied  themselves  to  gym- 
nastics, while  the  other  50  could  be  considered  as  non-gym- 
nasts.    Plate  XIV,  A  and  B. 

The  line  A,  height,  starting  like  the  line  B  from  142,  at- 
tains 163,  while  the  line  B  stops  at  160. 

We  can  now,  with  great  chances  of  certainty,  foffnulate 
the  following  propositions :  Gymnastics  with  apparatus  does 
not  hinder  growth.  It  is  even  probable  that  the  increase 
of  height  in  gymnasts  is  more  accentuated  than  in  non-gym- 
nasts. This  is  for  the  adolescent  at  the  period  which  ex- 
tends from  fourteen  and  one-half  to  eighteen  years. 

Chest  girth. — After  height,  let  us  examine  how  chest  girth 
behaves  under  the  same  circumstances.  The  chest  circum- 
ferences are  precisely  those  of  the  six  subjects  whose  height 
we  have  just  studied.     Plate  XII. 

At  the  first  glance,  one  realizes  that  the  chest  girth  of  the 
non-gymnasts  is  totally  differentiated  from  that  of  the  gym- 
nasts. The  latter  rises  regularly,  the  other  irregularly.  The 
latter  crosses  15,  IT,  20,  21  centimeters.  The  former  in- 
creases 10  centimeters,  and  most  often  8,  6  and  even  only  4 
centimeters  in  the  same  lapse  of  time.  The  development  of 
the  thoracic  cage  takes  place  in  these  two  circumstancs  in 
a  whollv  different  fashion. 

In  an  analysis  of  the  mode  and  rhythm  of  growth,  we 
should  note  that  the  expansion  of  the  thoracic  cage,  which 
is  often  figured  by  a  number  of  centimeters  greater  than  that 
of  height,  appears  independent  of  the  total  elongation  of  the 
body.  It  affects  a  special  rhythm  which  would  be  inter- 
esting to  relate  to  that  of  the  trunk. 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    165 

But  that  has  only  a  secondary  interest  for  us  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  What  is  important  for  us  to  know  is  the  essen- 
tial characteristics  which  mark  the  difference  between  the 
thoracic  cage  of  a  gymnast  and  that  of  a  non-gymnast  from 
the  point  of  view  of  augmention  of  girth. 

We  noted  first,  as  we  have  just  said,  the  superiority  of 
the  total  growth  of  the  thorax  of  the  gymnast  over  that 
of  the  non-gymnast.  This  superiority  is  much  more  ac- 
centuated than  it  is  for  height,  and  it  is  common  to  find  a 
digression  of  8  to  10  centimeters  at  eighteen  years  between 
two  boys  presenting  an  equal  girth  at  fourteen  and  one- 
half  years.  One  can  investigate  and  understand  this  by  ex- 
amining the  perimetric  curves  with  solid  line  and  with  broken 
line  of  group  VII. 

The  frequency  oi  plateaus  is  great  in  the  course  of  the 
evolution  of  the  thoracic  cage;  in  the  non-gymnasts,  the 
plateaus,  more  numerous  still,  affect  singularity  by  their  ex- 
tent. It  is  not  rare  to  observe  the  status  quo  during  three, 
four,  and  even  five  semesters,  as  is  seen  in  the  broken-line 
curves  of  groups  V  and  VII,  in  children  who  take  no  part 
in  gymnastics. 

It  is  necessary  to  recognize  that  this  is  met  with  also 
in  the  gymnasts,  but  in  general  at  the  summit  of  the  curve 
and  not  at  its  base.  It  is  not  at  all  before  developing  one- 
self that  the  stationary  period  is  observed  (see  the  solid-line 
curves  V  and  VII)  but  only  after  having  attained  a  certain 
fulness,  and  often  the  maximum  development. 

The  solid-line  curves  compared  with  each  other  have  a 
sort  of  group  resemblance;  their  general  behavior  is  char- 
acterized by  a  rapid  rising  intersected  by  short  arrests  fol- 
lowed soon  by  new  thrusts  of  ascension  of  great  vigor.  While 
the  solid  lines  mount  almost  vertically,  the  broken-line  curves 


166  Growth  During  School  Age 

approach  a  horizontal  plane ;  sometimes  their  upward  tend- 
ency is  almost  zero,  as  in  curve  V. 

Aside  from  this  form  of  ensemble,  which  is  the  expression 
of  a  great  delay  in  the  expansion  of  the  osseous  thorax,  the 
curves  of  circumference  of  the  non-gymnasts  bear  no  com- 
paring at  all  between  them,  so  great  is  the  variability  of 
their  make-up,  so  great  is  their  capriciousness.  It  is  evi- 
dent, then,  that  the  thorax  of  a  gymnast  grows  more  rap- 
idly and  reaches  a  final  expansion  quite  superior  to  that 
of  a  non-g3Tmnast. 

The  averages  calculated  on  100  particular  cases  (50 
gymnasts  and  50  non-gymnasts)  and  taken  back  to  one 
identical  original  girth,  confirm  what  precedes  and  permit 
the  formulation  of  a  new  proposition:  gymnastics  with  ap- 
paratus procures  for  the  thoracic  cage  greater  amplitude 
than  it  will  obtain  spontaneously  between  fourteen  and  one- 
half  and  eighteen  years.     Plate  XIV,  A  and  B. 

Weight, — Let  us  now  consider  weight  in  the  gymnasts 
and  non-gymnasts,  and  see  what  happens  while  height  in- 
creases and  the  body  expands.  We  find  an  appreciable  aug- 
mentation of  weight  on  both  sides.  But,  while  in  the  non- 
gymnast  this  total  augmentation  oscillates  around  1-i  kilos, 
it  becomes  20,  25,  27,  29  kilos  for  the  gymnasts. 

The  form  of  the  curve  which  expresses  the  progressive  in- 
crease of  weight  holds  in  some  fashion  the  middle  place  be- 
tween the  height  curve  and  the  curve  of  chest  girth.  Plate 
XII.  The  greatest  analogy  is  with  this  last.  We  find  the 
same  vigor  of  ascent  as  for  height  in  the  weight  curve  of  the 
gymnast.  For  the  non-gymnast  the  weight  curve  models 
itself  in  some  fashion  on  the  girth  curve. 

In  final  analysis,  the  increase  in  weight  of  the  gymnast 
is  always  superior  to  that  of  the  non-gymnast.  The  solid 
line  is  constantly  longer  than  the  broken  line.     We  are  able 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    167 

to  formulate  in  accordance  with  the  particular  cases  as  in 
accordance  with  the  averages  our  third  proposition:  gum- 
nasties  with  apparatus  increases  the  density  of  the  tissues, 
the  weight  of  the  body  of  adolescents  from  fourteen  and 
one-half  to  eighteen  years.  The  gymnast  almost  always 
attains  at  eighteen  years  a  weight  superior  to  that  of  the 
non-gymnast. 

Thoracic  organs. — Let  us  see  now  how  anthropometry 
instructs  us  upon  the  modifications  contributed  by  gym- 
nastics to  certain  partial  dimensions  of  the  body  of  the 
adolescent,  and  indicates  to  us  within  what  limits  the  rela- 
tions which  these  dimensions  have  between  them  at  the  debut 
of  the  period  of  experimentation  have  varied. 

Pelvis  and  thorax. — Let  us  seek,  for  example,  in  what 
relation  the  pelvis  is  found  over  against  the  thorax;  what 
are  the  relations  of  girth  of  the  lower  limbs  with  the  upper 
limbs.     Plate  XIII. 

Without  entering  into  a  minute  analysis  of  fact,  we  see 
on  reading  the  curves  of  group  B  (average),  that  sponta- 
neously civilized  life,  in  the  college  as  in  the  family,  favors 
the  development  of  the  pelvis  and  that  of  the  lower  limbs 
with  greater  activity  than  that  of  the  thorax,  of  the  breadth 
of  the  shoulders  (bi-acromial)  and  of  the  upper  limbs:  the 
non-gymnasts  present  a  growth  of  diameter  of  the  pelvis 
much  superior  to  that  of  the  thoracic  diameter  as  well  as 
of  the  bi-acromial  diameter.  In  them,  the  girths  of  the 
thigh  and  calf  have  a  development  notably  greater  than  the 
development  of  the  girths  of  the  arm  and  forearm. 

Averages  and  individual  cases  are  unanimous  and  permit 
in  consequence  the  following  deduction:  The  lower  limbs,  at 
all  times  urged  to  action,  grow  more  in  volume  than  the 
upper  limbs  in  individuals  of  fourteen  and  one-half  to  eight- 
een years,  who  apply  themselves  to  the  ordinary  occupations 


168  Growth  During  School  Age 

of  urban  life,  of  college  without  practicing  gymnastics  with 
apparatus;  in  them  the  diameter  of  the  pelvis  presents  a 
total  growth  more  considerable  than  that  of  the  thoracic 
and  shoulder  {bi-acromial)  diameter.  This  is  what  the  ex- 
amination of  the  curves  of  group  B  demonstrates. 

If  we  pass  from  the  non-gymnast  to  the  gymnast,  if  we 
glance  at  the  groups  A  (averages)  the  quasi-equality  of  the 
curves  strikes  one  at  once  by  its  very  contrast  with  the  in- 
equality of  a  moment  ago.  This  length  of  the  curves  al- 
most equivalent  explains  the  tendency  of  the  thoracic  girth 
and  the  upper  limbs  to  take  a  development  more  consider- 
able under  the  influence  of  gymnastics. 

We  see  the  circumference  of  the  arm  (taken  at  the  level 
of  the  biceps)  gain  almost  as  many  centimeters  as  the  cir- 
cumference of  the  thigh.  The  forearm  itself,  in  spite  of  ar- 
rests, benefits  by  an  increase  in  volume  (girth  measured  at 
its  maximum)  equal  to  that  of  the  calf. 

A  simple  table  will  render  more  obvious  the  difference  of 
growth  of  the  diameters  and  circumferences  measured,  ac- 
cording as  one  considers  them  in  the  gymnasts  or  in  the 
non-gymnasts. 

Superiority  in  the  growth  of  thoracic  organs  due  to  gymnastics. 

IN  A  PERIOD  OF  ABOUT  FOUR  YEARS 

Total  average  growth  in 
centimeters 

Lengths  of  diameter  and  girth.  In  non-gymnasts     In  gymnasts 

Diameters 

Shoulder   (bi-acromial)    4  6 

Thoracic     3  5 

Pelvic    6  6 

Girths 

Arm    4  5 

Thigh    6  6 

Fore-arm    3  6 

\.  ail         itillllllllllMHIMf  MMIHIIMIli         o  o 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    169 

In  this  table  are  found  the  figures  which  are  recorded  on 
the  curves  of  averages  of  groups  A  and  B,  which  served  to 
construct  the  table.  At  a  glance  one  takes  in  the  benefits 
due  to  gymnastics  for  every  thoracic  part  of  the  body  'of 
the  adolescent.  The  same  diameters  of  the  thoracic  portion 
of  the  body  are  represented  by  some  different  figures  ac- 
cording as  they  belong  to  the  gymnast  or  to  the  non-gym- 
nast. This  remark  applies  equally  to  the  superior  circum- 
ferences. Diameters  and  girths,  on  the  contrary,  remain 
identical  or  nearly  so  in  the  two  groups  when  they  concern 
the  pelvic  half  of  the  body. 

It  appears  then  that  we  are  authorized  from  now  on  to 
lay  down  the  following  principle  which  is  deduced  from  in- 
dividual facts  as  from  averages. 

Equality  in  growth  in  volume  of  the  four  limbs  as  well 
as  in  simultaneous  expansion  (transverse  diameters)  of  the 
thorax  and  pelvis,  tends  to  be  established  under  the  influ- 
ence of  gymnastics  in  adolescents  from  fourteen  and  one- 
half  to  eighteen  years. 

General  results. — Let  us  now  turn  back  and  examine  in 
their  ensemble  the  figures  and  the  curves,  in  order  to  know 
if  our  four  propositions  express  indeed  everything  which 
the  facts  represented  in  the  graphs  signify.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  pursue  the  examination  long  in  order  to  catch  a 
general  idea  of  the  greatest  importance  which  is  born  at  all 
points  of  the  strict  observation  of  facts.  This  is  the  regu- 
lative action  on  growth  of  gymnastics  with  apparatus. 

This  exercise,  it  has  been  demonstrated  to  us,  does  not 
prevent  growing;  it  seems  indeed  to  favor  up  to  a  certain 
point  the  growth  of  the  body  in  length,  the  elevation  of 
height,  in  other  terms.  We  have  also  acquired  the  convic- 
tion that  the  thoracic  cage  takes  under  the  influence  of  gym- 


170  Growth  During  School  Age 

nasties  with  apparatus,  greater  amplitude  than  it  would 
take  spontaneously. 

We  soon  find  a  check  on  this  amelioration  in  comparison 
with  the  enlargements  of  the  pelvis.  Spontaneously  the  pel- 
vis gains  in  amplitude  more  than  the  thorax  in  an  equal 
time.  When  gymnastics  intervene,  the  thorax  is  enlarged 
almost  as  much  as  the  pelvis,  which  does  not,  however,  di- 
minish its  development  in  these  circumstances. 

The  same  phenomenon  is  produced  while  accentuating  it- 
self, when  we  compare  girths  of  the  thoracic  members  with 
those  of  corresponding  parts  of  the  pelvis,  and  the  inequali- 
ties in  progressive  growth  and  in  total  augmentation  between 
these  two  groups  of  organs  is  attenuated  and  even  some- 
times disappears.  Gymnastics  with  apparatus  have  contrib- 
uted to  the  reestablishing  of  equilibrium. 

This  regulative  action  is  explained,  on  all  the  curves  ap- 
pended, by  the  simultaneousness  in  the  increase  in  height,  in 
girth,  and  in  weight,  by  the  tendency  to  equalization  of  the 
partial  developments  of  the  two  thoracic  and  pelvic  halves, 
superior  and  inferior,  of  the  body. 

This  action  is  again  manifested  by  the  rarefaction  of  the 
times  of  arrest  and  the  attenuation  of  the  shocks  which  are 
produced  in  the  course  of  the  development  of  the  body  which 
assumes  the  proportions  of  a  general  regularity  of  rhythm 
of  growth. 

So  many  facts  are  determined  which,  physiologically  in- 
terpreted, lead  to  this  conclusion :  Gymnastics  with  appartus 
reduce  none  of  the  vital  phenomena  which  are  manifested 
by  the  morphological  growth  of  the  organism.  Nutritive 
work  and  its  uniform  distribution  in  the  whole  economy  are 
energetically  favored  by  this  process  of  physical  education. 

So  true  is  this  that  in  matters  of  physical  education  "there 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    171 

are  no  bad  means,  there  are  only  bad  masters."  1  Here  the 
habitual  master  has  been  nature  and  free  imitation.  I  do 
not  even  mention  the  weekly  lesson,  whose  value  for  the  im- 
mense majority  is  known.     Gymnastics  have  remained  play. 

The  same  study  is  to  be  made  for  some  other  apparatus. 
But  if  the  fixed  bar  gives  such  good  results,  what  has  one 
not  a  right  to  expect  of  apparatus  less  "congestive,"  2  bet- 
ter understood,  better  adapted  to  man's  aptitude  and  to  his 
mode  of  struggle  for  existence? 

Do  I  need  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  none  of  the 
elements  of  classification  which  precede,  could  have  been 
collected  without  anthropometry?  The  intervention  of  an- 
thropometry permits  the  substitution  of  precise  and  correct 
ideas  on  the  effects  of  gymnastics  for  ideas  too  often  false 
and  always  vague  which  have  had  currency  to  the  present. 

Diverse  causes  of  abstention. — "Would  not  children  who 
do  not  take  part  in  gymnastics  be  children  constituted  in 
a  way  relatively  disadvantageous  from  some  point  of  view, 
and  would  they  not  be  incapable  of  attaining,  even  with 
the  help  of  gymnastics,  a  skeletal  and  muscular  development 
equal  to  that  of  children  inclined  to  exercise  themselves  with 
a  certain  violence?  Is  there  not  a  selection  produced  from 
the  first  attempts  which  would  be  encouraging  for  the  vigor- 
ous ones  "having  the  stuff"  and  discouraging  on  the  con- 
trary for  the  feeble  of  constitution  and  of  complexion?" 

Such  is  the  objection  which  M.  Manouvrier  sought  to  offer 
me.  I  thank  him  for  it.  This  question  has  in  fact  a  great 
importance  and,  in  attempting  to  answer  it,  I  am  going  to 
fill  up  a  lacuna  of  my  memory.  Yes,  incontestably,  there 
is  a  selection  produced  dating  from  the  first  trials.     These 

*Ph.  Tissie:   "La  fatigue,"  Paris,  1897. 

2  Ph.  Tissie:     Art.  "Gymnastique."— Larousse. 


172  Growth  During  School  Age 

first  trials  are  in  fact  encouraging  for  some,  but  they  are 
not  equally  discouraging  for  all  the  others.  Some  of  these 
latter  derive  benefit  from  that  time  on.  A  greater  number 
leave  the  apparatus ;  among  these  latter,  there  are  some  who 
will  return  of  their  own  accord,  there  are  some  who  will 
require  that  some  circumstance  or  an  order  lead  them  back ; 
some  others  will  remain  refractory. 

In  the  ranks  of  the  refractory  are  found  some  adolescents 
described  as  "weaklings."  For  these  I  have  prescribed  gym- 
nastics as  a  unique  remedy.  I  can  group  together  fourteen 
of  them,  seven  of  whom  have  followed  my  prescriptions  while 
the  seven  others  neglected  to  follow  them.  The  fourteen 
were  sickly  in  the  same  degree,  of  equally  weak  temperament 
(hyposthenic)  and  of  very  nearly  like  proportions,  present- 
ing however  some  characteristics  slightly  different,  so  far 
as  I  was  able  to  determine.  Plates  XIII  and  XIV.  I  have 
excluded  the  adolescents  who  had  even  slight  deformities, 
scoliotic  or  others. 

These  fourteen  weaklings  naturally  were  not  included  in 
making  up  the  series  of  100.  The  averages  were  established 
for  each  of  these  two  groups  under  the  same  conditions  as 
for  the  gymnasts  and  non-gymnasts  previously  studied. 

Let  us  examine  now  what  observation  brings  to  light  on 
both  sides  of  these  two  groups  of  averages  presented  as  pre- 
viously under  the  form  of  curves. 

I.  Group:  Gymnasts. — Those  rebuffed  by  the  selection  of 
the  first  lesson  were  able,  although  two  years  older,  and  of 
constitution  as  feeble  as  on  their  arrival  at  school,  to  take 
part  in  gymnastics,  succeed  in  them,  and,  what  is  better,  to 
benefit  by  them  to  the  point  of  being  fit  for  the  voluntary 
military  service  at  eighteen  years. 

II.  Group:  Non-gymnasts. — These  seven  adolescents  pre- 
sented some  conditions  much  like  those  of  the  seven  who  had 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    173 

submitted  themselves  to  the  prescribed  gymnastics.  But, 
either  by  simply  capricious  stubbornness,  or  by  conceit,  or 
by  indifference,  or  by  desire  of  having  himself  dismissed 
from  school,  each  one  of  these  seven  weaklings,  who  did  not 
give  in  the  different  acts  of  their  life  any  signs  of  laziness 
more  pronounced  than  their  gymnastic  comrades,  each  one 
abstained  absolutely  from  all  gymnastics.  In  compelling 
them  to  play  in  all  the  recreations,  to  take  part  in  all  the 
walks  and  all  the  exercises  in  open  air,  to  receive  finally  at 
the  infirmary  daily  a  dose  of  cod-liver  oil,  I  had  thought  to 
make  up  for  the  gymnastic  inaction. 

Now,  none  of  these  seven  non-gymnasts  has  been  able  to 
enter  service  at  eighteen  years.  All  however  had  reached 
the  regulation  height,  but  presented  at  the  time  of  enlist- 
ment an  insufficient  chest  girth  and  too  light  a  weight. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  results  would  remain  so  absolute 
with  more  numerous  series  than  this  one.  It  seems  to  me 
nevertheless  that  these  facts  bring  out  with  sufficient  clear- 
ness some  connected  influences,  the  influence  of  gymnastics, 
and  that  there  is  reason  to  recognize  that  it  exercises  on  all 
adolescents  a  really  beneficial  action  however  little  assisted 
it  be  by  bad  natural  disposition,  as  is  met  with,  beyond 
doubt,  in  sickly  subjects. 

The  selection  which  is  produced  dating  from  the  first 
trials  is  confirmed  bv  the  very  existence  of  this  categorv  of 
weaklings,  by  the  adaptation  of  some  and  by  the  repulsion 
of  others.  The  cause  of  this  selection  is  certainly  not  single. 
The  constitution  appears,  at  first  approach,  to  have  a  pre- 
ponderate influence.  But  a  new  factor  soon  appears  which 
takes  the  lead,  under  certain  circumstances,  over  the  physi- 
cal constitution.     I  mean  character. 

Do  we  not  see,  in  fact,  a  certain  number  of  those  who  had 
absented  themselves  from  the  apparatus  at  the  moment  of 


174  Growth  During  School  Age 

their  arrival  at  school,  approach  the  apparatus  later  under 
the  influence  of  an  apparently  insignificant  incident,  which 
acted  as  a  determining  cause  only  because  it  was  of  a  nature 
to  sound  the  key-note,  the  fundamental  generator  of  the 
gamut  of  adolescent  character?  Their  ardor  lasts  exactly 
as  long  as  the  determining  cause  lasts ;  the  initiative  is  ex- 
tinguished with  the  last  vibrations  of  the  key-note.  It  hap- 
pens that  they  may  have  had  time  to  excel  in  the  chosen 
exercise,  although  their  medium  or  feeble  constitution  had 
appeared  a  priori  a  sufficient  reason  for  their  absention. 
Then,  suddenly,  they  again  become  absentionists  as  before, 
while  conserving  the  acquisition  due  to  their  temporary 
practice. 

Is  it  not  also'  character  which  stamps  the  acts  of  that 
other  adolescent?  He  is  as  little  muscled  at  fifteen  years  as 
at  fourteen ;  he  is  determined  however  to  take  gymnastics 
in  his  second  year  of  school.  Does  he  act  from  anxiety  to 
assure  his  future  physical  fitness  for  the  voluntary  service? 
Does  he  not  rather  have  for  aim  to  learn  to  defend  himself, 
wearied  as  he  is  of  being  victim?  His  aggressors  are  for 
the  most  part  gymnasts,  he  had  noticed,  and  he  desires  to 
become  a  gymnast  to  be  able  to  cope  with  them.  Running 
movements,  movements  called  skilled  ("de  force")  soon  pos- 
sess no  longer  any  secret  for  him.  This  weak  fellow  has 
succeeded  in  becoming  a  gymnast  like  the  strong  ones ;  an 
imperfect  gymnast  he  is,  however,  because  the  dangerous 
exercises  constitute  so  many  unsurmountable  obstacles. 
When  he  is  summoned  to  execute  one  of  them,  he  is  invaded 
by  an  uneasiness  vague  in  its  form  but  of  a  decisive  power 
of  inhibition.  He  recognizes  himself  capable  of  the  effort 
which  it  demands,  he  feels  the  suppleness  and  the  necessary 
skill ;  he  could  take  up  this  movement  quite  like  another ; 
and  yet  he  remains  as  if  rooted  to  the  spot.    And  he  involun- 


Physical  Education  and  A iuc analogical  Method    175 

tarily  experiences  the  reproduction  of  this  phenomenon  in 
the  presence  of  each  of  the  exercises  which  require  some 
hardiness.  He  has  become  a  gymnast  up  to  a  certain  point, 
but  he  is  as  incapable  of  defending  himself  as  befoiv. 

How  could  one  in  this  case  tax  the  constitution  with  the 
responsibility  of  the  abstention  of  the  first  hour  and  not 
recognize  the  influence,  on  this  manner  of  acting,  of  the 
character  of  the  adolescent?  This  example  shows  again 
that  the  constitution  is  subject  to  giving  way  to  a  mastery 
which  its  feebleness  did  not  permit  of  prediction. 

There  is  then,  properly  speaking,  no  normal  constitution 
which  cannot  adapt  itself  to  the  exercises  of  gymnastics 
with  apparatus.  Certain  constitutions  are  more  advan- 
tageous than  others,  but  none  is  disadvantageous  in  an 
absolute  fashion.  On  the  other  hand,  certain  children  find 
in  their  character  the  obstacle  which  the  constitution  has 
not  opposed  to  them  or  the  disposition  which  is  their  own, 
and  disturbs  the  practice  of  a  greater  or  lesser  part  of 
gymnastics.  In  the  other  exercises,  in  the  games,  this  defect 
of  character  has  some  analogous  consequences,  capable  of 
depriving  the  constitution  of  some  of  the  best  opportunities 
of  fortifying  itself. 

If  there  is  no  constitution  refractory  to  gymnastics,  does 
it  follow  that  all  the  constitutions  derive  an  equal  benefit 
from  their  practice?  The  facts  establish  that  the  benefit  is 
relative;  in  other  words,  some  slender  muscles  will  acquire 
the  maximum  development  of  which  they  are  capable,  the 
maximum  force  which  agrees  with  their  texture  without 
changing  this  texture  which  will  itself  set  an  anatomical 
barrier  to  physiological  progress.  It  is  the  same  with  the 
proportions  of  the  skeleton,  and  it  will  be  exceptional  to  see 
some  systems  with  a  delicate  frame  take  on  a  bulky  form 
under  the  sole  influence  of  gvmnastics. 


176  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  relative  proportions  have  been  notably  improved  on 
the  contrary.  The  curves  of  weaklings  (see  p. 32)  show  us 
that  in  them,  as  well  as  in  the  precocious  gymnasts,  the 
development  of  the  thoracic  organs  has  taken  an  impetus, 
unknown  up  to  then,  dating  from  the  moment  when  this 
special  treatment  was  inaugurated.  The  thoracic  organs 
of  these  weaklings  have  grown  almost  as  much  as  the  pelvic 
organs.  The  chest  girth  and  weight  have  progressed  in  a 
fashion  quite  different  and  besides  considerable  in  the  sickly 
gymnasts  from  what  they  have  done  in  the  sickly  non- 
gymnasts. 

In  a  word,  if  gymnastics  have  not  been  able  to  change  the 
anatomical  texture,  if  they  have  not  been  able,  save  excep- 
tionally, to  make  some  large  muscles  out  of  slender  ones, 
they  have  at  least  caused  these  muscles  to  acquire  the  great- 
est power  of  action  which  their  texture  admits  of.  As  to 
their  very  indirect  influence  on  the  skeleton,  it  is  more  easily 
appreciable  at  sight  in  the  weak  than  in  the  strong,  be- 
cause the  muscles  of  the  former  cover  the  bones  with  a 
thinner  veil,  but  it  is  not  more  marked  in  the  one  than  in 
the  other. 

The  effects  of  exercise  on  the  skeleton  merit  withal  a 
particular  study  which  will  come  in  its  time.  While  wait- 
ing, to  rely  only  on  the  relative  progress  of  weight,  one  can 
note  that  gymnastics  enlarge  the  skeleton  of  the  strong 
like  the  skeleton  of  the  weak  in  a  certain  measure. 

Perhaps,  in  the  present  discussion,  one  could  place  him- 
self at  another  point  of  view  and  consider  directly  the  groups 
formed  by  the  selection  which  is  produced  from  the  time  of 
the  first  efforts,  as  M.  Manouvrier  had  forecast. 

Let  us  first  cast  a  glance  on  the  figures  entered  at  the 
origin  of  the  average  curves  of  the  non-gymnasts,  and  relate 
them  to  the  same  figures  of  average  curves  of  gymnasts. 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    177 

These  numbers  express  the  averages  of  measurements 
taken  at  the  very  time  when  the  selection  which  interests  us 
was  effected.  Now  these  numbers  are  almost  equal,  which 
fact  indicates  already  that  vigor  is  not  the  natural  adjunct 
of  one  only  of  the  two  fields,  if  one  admits  at  all  that  the 
measurements  taken  be  capable  of  instructing  on  the  vigor 
of  the  adolescents  observed. 

If  one  proceed  by  constructing  a  series  of  the  figures  fur- 
nished by  the  individual  measurements,  and  if  one  take  care 
to  repeat  this  operation  for  each  one  of  the  two  groups,  it  is 
perceived  that  none  of  the  two  fields  offers  the  homogeneity 
upon  which  one  would  have  believed  to  be  able  to  count,  and 
that,  quite  the  contrary,  both  present  some  strong  and  some 
weak.  Comparison  between  them  of  the  elements  of  this 
double  seriation  demonstrates  clearly  that  the  proportion 
of  the  strong  and  the  weak  is  quite  equal  on  both  sides,  as 
well,  naturally,  as  the  proportion  of  the  average  constitu- 
tions. 

This  direct  examination  of  groups,  resulting  from  selec- 
tion, which  follows  the  first  trials,  leads  us  then  to  consider 
as  secondary  the  role  of  the  constitution  in  this  selection, 
which  is  produced  under  the  multiple  influences  of  which 
some  of  the  principles  have  been  studied  above. 

From  another  aspect,  also,  this  initial  distribution  pro- 
voked by  gymnastics  is  interesting.  It  furnishes  a  valuable 
indication  for  medical  or  moral  intervention  and  sometimes 
for  both  simultaneously.  It  is  in  certain  cases  a  useful  aux- 
iliary in  the  determination  of  temperaments. 

If  then  gymnastics, — and  the  few  preceding  pages  seem 
capable  of  being  summed  up  thus, — if  open  air  and  free  gym- 
nastics are  no  more  able  to  make  up  the  defects  of  character 
than  to  fill  up  the  lacunae  of  constitutions,  they  represent 
at  least  an  exercise  within  the  reach  of  every  individual,  a 


178  Growth  During  School  Age 

merit  which  not  all  the  agents  of  physical  education  possess. 
One  must  besides  recognize  in  it  an  energetic  and  recom- 
mendable  action  on  the  general  and  local  development  of  the 
organism  and  regard  as  applicable  to  all  normal  adolescents, 
without  distinction  of  strength  or  weakness,  the  four  prop- 
ositions which  I  have  attempted  to  establish  in  the  first  part 
of  this  memoir. 

Conclusions  relative  to  the  results  of  exercise  aimed  at  and 

of  the  method  of  checking. 

In  adolescents  from  fourteen  and  one-half  to  eighteen 
years,  gymnastics  with  apparatus : 

1.  Does  not  injure  growth  in  height. 

2.  Procures  for  the  thoracic  cage  more  amplitude  than  it 
would  take  spontaneously. 

3.  Increases  the  density  of  the  tissues,  the  weight  of  the 
body. 

4.  Favors  actively  equality  in  the  increase  in  volume  of 
the  four  limbs,  in  the  simultaneous  expansion  of  the  chest 
and  pelvis,  and  in  a  general  manner  regulates  the  vital  phe- 
nomena which  are  manifested  by  the  morphological  aug- 
mentation of  the  organism. 

Let  us  state  also,  in  formulating  it,  the  method  which  has 
been  followed  for  the  first  time  in  researches  of  this  kind, . 
and  which  appears  to  me  of  a  nature  to  cause  physical  edu- 
cation to  progress  scientifically  as  a  science  of  improving 
of  the  organism  applied  to  the  child  and  to  the  adolescent : 

(a)  It  is  necessary  that  the  study  of  growth  precede  that 
of  the  modifier,  the  agent  of  physical  education. 

(b)  To  know  the  lasting,  definite  changes  due  to  an  exer- 
cise, it  is  necessary  to  make  the  researches  bear  on  what  is 
the  most  susceptible  of  becoming  definitive,  namely,  its  re- 
mote effects,  its  results  at  a  distance. 


Physical  Education  and  Auxanological  Method    179 

I  am  convinced  that  the  new  French  conception  of  gym- 
nastics, daughter  of  Richepin's  thought  and  of  Greek  tradi- 
tion, the  energetic  initiative  of  the  naval  lieutenant  Hubert, 
will  benefit  largely  from  this  same  auxanological  method  of 
control  which  will  put  in  relief,  for  each  of  the  pupils  of  the 
navy,  the  vigor  developed  to  the  highest  degree  in  respect, 
throughout  the  period  of  growth,  of  the  harmonious  lines  of 
human  proportions. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ASYMMETRY    AND    EDUCATION 

Half  of  the  body. — Variation  of  the  length  of  the  sternum 
and  rickets. — The  shoulders  of  the  child. — Asymmetry 
of  the  human  body;  those  things  which  it  is  necessary  to 
know  by  reason  of  their  educative  interest. — Probable 
part  taken  by  the  brain  in  functional  asymmetries. — 
Bimanual  education  (ambidexterity ) . 

HALF  of  the  body. — If  the  instrument  has  measured  the 
total  height  of  the  body,  divide  this  height  by  two  and 
you  can  have  a  horizontal  plane  passed  at  the  height  at  which 
the  point  corresponding  to  the  figure  obtained  will  be  found, 
certain  that  you  are  cutting  the  body  into  two  sections  of 
equal  length.  This  brief  operation  causes  to  stand  out  the 
difference  of  the  constitution  of  these  two  halves  and  re- 
minds you  of  what  we  said  of  the  complexity  of  the  stature. 
If  3Tou  repeat  the  operation  on  several  persons,  you  are 
struck  by  the  different  organs  in  each  which  the  imaginary 
horizontal  median  cuts.  And  if  you  repeat  it  on  the  same 
child  every  six  months,  you  will  be  interested  by  the  displace- 
ment of  the  organs  relative  to  the  horizontal  median  plane, 
3Tou  will  be  interested  to  the  point  that  you  will  pursue  the 
investigation  by  the  measures  and  multiple  notations  which 
you  hesitated  somewhat  to  undertake ;  you  will  want  to  know 
how  and  why  these  organs  are  displaced  in  the  child  in  travail 
of  growth;  }Tou  will  want  to  see  him  grow  and  understand 
how  he  grows,  having  a  misgiving  about  the  influence  which 

180 


Asymmetry  and  Education  181 

these  notions  cannot  help  having  on  your  educative  direction. 

Variations  of  the  length  of  the  sternum  and  rickets. — 
Forthwith  this  investigation  will  reserve  for  you  some  sur- 
prises and  will  permit  you  to  calm  the  parents  who  are  tor- 
mented by  the  incurvation  of  the  sternum,  which  they  have 
ascertained  in  their  child. 

Isolated,  this  concave  or  convex  incurvation  is  not  at  all 
a  sign  of  rickets,  but  an  effect  of  the  irregular  parapuberal 
growth. 

Periodical  examination  of  the  same  child  will  cause  you  to 
witness  the  resumption  of  the  actual  elongation  of  the  ster- 
num which  had  appeared  to  be  arrested  a  longer  or  shorter 
time.  In  reality,  the  great  thoracic  cartilage  had  not  cea 
to  grow  in  length,  but  the  irregular  growth  having  too  often 
in  the  civilized  child,  in  the  city  child,  in  the  scholar,  broken 
the  parallelism  between  the  spurt  of  costal  elongation  and 
that  of  the  ligaments  which  fasten  the  sternum  at  the  two 
extremities,  there  has  followed  an  incurvation  of  the  sternum 
which  contrived  to  mask  its  real  elongation. 

From  now  on,  as  a  result  of  an  opposite  evolution,  arrest 
or  reduction  of  the  rate  of  lengthening  of  the  ribs  and  the 
conjunctive  puberal  spurt  of  growth,  the  sternum  is  going 
to  find  itself  partially  liberated,  and  the  observer  witnesses 
from  this  moment,  the  straightening  of  the  sternum.  H< 
a  witness  of  this  contradictory  phenomenon  of  a  cartilage 
which  appears  to  recover  its  activity  of  growth  at  the  very 
moment  when  the  cartilaginous  tissue  of  the  body  is  struck 
by  arrest  or  by  reduction  in  its  growth.  We  know  that  only 
the  effect  of  straightening  is  there. 

This  change  in  the  anatomical  disposition  of  the  sternum 
is  correlative  of  the  change  of  direction  of  the  major  aug- 
mentation of  the  lungs,  which  passes,  at  the  same  time 
(puberty)  from  horizontal  to  the  vertical  plane. 


182  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  shoulders. — The  disposition  shown  by  the  shoulders 
has  a  great  influence  upon  the  aspect  of  the  silhouette.  One 
notes :  high  shoulders,  low  or  drooping,  average  or  ordinary, 
that  is,  deviating  more  or  less  from  the  horizontal  plane  and 
presenting  from  top  to  bottom  a  certain  obliquity  from  the 
neck  to  the  acromion.  The  high  shoulders  themselves  only 
rarely  attain  a  horizontal  position.  You  will  consequently 
note  various  functional  correlations  of  each  of  these  con- 
formations and  I  urge  you  to  note  them. 

Theoretically,  the  shoulders  must  be  symmetrical.  In 
realitv,  one  of  the  shoulders  is  lower  than  the  other;  it  is 
the  right  which  habitually  occupies  the  lower  plane. 

It  is  understood  that  you  record  simply  an  inequality 
which  your  practiced  eye  causes  you  to  perceive,  but  I  do 
not  ask  you  to  measure  it.  It  would  be  necessary  for  that 
purpose  to  take  the  measurements  bilaterally  as  I  have  done 
in  the  course  of  my  researches  on  growth,  and  that  would  go 
beyond  the  field  to  which  your  complex  role  obliges  you  to 
limit  yourself. 

The  inequality  of  height  of  the  two  shoulders  is  an  asym- 
metry which  has  been  attributed  to  fencing  (Lagrange)  and 
by  other  authors  to  a  defect  of  conformation.  I  have  been 
able  to  establish  that  it  was  a  normal  asymmetry,  and  to 
class  it  under  the  head  of  the  functional  asymmetries.  It 
results  from  the  activity  of  the  upper  right  limb,  infinitely 
more  intense  than  that  of  the  upper  left. 

Asymmetries ;  their  educative  interest. — And  besides,  al- 
though the  investigation  which  I  urge  the  educator  to  make 
does  not  bring  on  a  contest  with  these  shades  of  morphology, 
I  believe  I  ought  to  instruct  you  briefly  on  the  principal 
asymmetries  and  their  causes.  Thev  constitute,  in  fact, 
some  particulars  which  are  in  the  medical  line,  especially, 
but  do  not  fail  to  offer  for  you,  educators,  a  lively  interest. 


Asymmetry  and  Education  183 

Distribution  of  asymmetries.1 — It  is  sometimes  spoken  of 
the  asymmetries  which  the  equal  organs  can  present  in  the 
normally  shaped  man;  a  rigorous  method  has  never,  so  far 
as  I  know,  been  applied  to  their  determination.  I  have  had 
recourse  to  what  had  been  taught  me  in  1893-189-i  by  Pro- 
fessor Manouvrier ;  I  have  extended  it  to  the  two  sides  of 
the  body  on  200  young  men ;  the  following  are  the  differ- 
ences which  I  was  enabled  by  it  to  establish  between  the 
right  and  left  side. 

"1.  The  upper  right  limb  is  larger  than  the  left  by  a  half 
centimeter. 

"2.  For  the  pelvic  members,  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  the 
left  which  exceeds  the  right ;  the  difference  is  a  half  centi- 
meter, and  it  is  maintained  to  the  level  of  the  calf. 

"3.  Functional  superactivity  is  then  crossed.  The  more 
active  nutrition  which  it  carries  with  it  must  have  so  much 
influence  on  the  elongation  of  the  members  which  are  the 
seat  of  it  as  on  their  augmentation  of  volume.  This  is,  in 
fact,  what  takes  place. 

"The  upper  right  limb  minus  the  hand  (humerus  and 
radius)  is  longer  than  the  left  by  one  centimeter. 

"The  lower  left  limb  minus  the  height  of  the  foot  (femur 
and  tibia)  is  longer  than  the  right  by  one  centimeter.  These 
differences  of  length  hold  a  proportional  part  in  the  seg- 
ments of  the  limbs. 

"4.  Left-handed  persons  observed  constitute  a  valuable 
check;  in  a  great  number  the  superiority  of  volume  and  of 
length  remains  crossed,  but  in  the  reverse  direction. 

"5.  The  greatest  length  of  the  lower  left  limb  in  right- 
handed  persons  raises  the  whole  corresponding  side  of  the 

1  According  to  my  two  notes  to  l'Academie  des  Sciences,  the  first  read 
by  Marey  in  1900,  the  second,  continuation  of  the  first,  read  by  Professor 
Laveran  ten  years  later,  in  1910. 


184?  Growth  During  School  Age 

trunk ;  the  left  iliac  spine  higher  by  one  centimeter  reveals 
the  inclination  of  the  pelvis.  It  is  the  same  with  chest  girth, 
of  which  the  left  extremity  of  the  scapula  exceeds  the  right 
by  one  centimeter  on  an  average. 

"6.  The  left  calf,  which  is  the  more  voluminous,  is  also 
lower  than  the  right  by  nearly  one  centimeter. 

"7.  The  ears  show  equally  a  notable  and  almost  constant 
asymmetry;  on  measuring  their  grand  vertical  axis,  an  ex- 
cess of  5  millimeters  in  favor  of  the  left  ear  is  found." 

The  asymmetry  of  the  ears  is  modified  with  age  in  the 
course  of  growth ;  it  has  a  tendency  to  attenuate  itself  espe- 
cially when  it  was  very  marked  in  the  little  child,  or  even  in 
the  boy  or  girl  before  puberty.  So  a  child  of  thirteen  years, 
whose  left  ear,  for  example,  is  longer  than  the  right,  by 
more  than  a  half  centimeter,  will  see  at  a  given  moment,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  dawn  of  puberty,  its  right  ear  alone 
grow,  the  smaller  one,  which  seems  to  hasten  to  join  the 
other,  which  moreover  awaits  it  and  does  not  grow  any  more. 
The  difference  between  the  two  cannot  be  more  than  two 
millimeters  at  eighteen  years.  The  fact  of  this  unilateral 
growth  is  quite  individual ;  I  am  emphasizing  this  point  to 
you. 

It  is  a  thing  to  be  noted,  while  taking  care  not  to  draw 
general  conclusions  from  it  too  quickly,  that  the  twenty- 
three  subjects  of  thirteen  and  one-half  years,  bearers  of 
strong  auricular  asymmetries  were  for  the  most  part  some 
"minus  habens."  Excepting  the  two  who  have  made  their 
way  in  life,  and  two  others  who  have  lived  "like  everybody?" 
there  are  ten  young  men  endowed  with  mediocre  talent,  §ix 
lacking  talent  and  three  incapables,  not  only  from  the  pojnt 
of  view  of  school  but  also  from  the  point  of  view  of  trade. 
If  these  last  nine  are  classed  in  the  category  of  abnormals, 
in  this  case,  a  strong  asymmetry  of  the  ears  would  be  met 


Asymmetry  and  Education  185 

with  in  40  per  cent  of  abnormals.  The  fact  is  to  be  checked 
up,  but  it  demands  the  greatest  reserve  in  its  interpretation, 
like  all  the  morphological  manifestations  of  psychical  states, 
moreover. 

In  my  second  note  to  l'Academie  des  Sciences,  I  insisted 
on  the  variations  of  asymmetry  in  the  course  of  growth  and 
its  causes.  At  thirteen  years,  the  right  side  is  superior  to 
the  left :  in  length  and  in  thickness,  in  the  arm  and  the  fore- 
arm; in  height,  at  the  neck  and  at  the  abdomen  inferior. 
Nevertheless  the  left  side  prevails  over  the  right  side;  in 
length  and  in  thickness,  at  the  thigh  and  at  the  leg;  in 
height,  at  the  thorax. 

Variations  in  the  course  of  growth. — Between  thirteen  and 
eighteen  years,  especially,  each  pair  of  members,  each  pair 
of  corresponding  segments,  either  are  differentiated  more, 
or  conserve  almost  the  same  asymmetry:  the  asymmetries  of 
length  of  the  two  forearms,  of  the  two  thighs  and  the  asym- 
metry of  the  thickness  of  the  two  arms  are  accentuated  with 
age,  and  realize  abruptly  an  important  augmentation  at  the 
moment  of  the  appearance  of  puberty  about  the  age  of 
fifteen  and  one-half  years. 

Some  semestrial  variations  characterize  on  the  contrary 
the  inequalities  which  hold  between  the  length  of  the  right 
arm  (humerus)  and  that  of  the  left  arm,  between  the  thick- 
ness of  the  right  forearm  and  that  of  the  left  forearm.  In 
spite  of  these  oscillations,  which  are  in  relation  witli  the 
"alternations  of  growth"  as  they  spring  from  my  researches, 
these  latter  asymmetries  are  almost  at  eighteen  years  what 
they  were  at  thirteen  years. 

A  comparable  stability  is  met  in  the  neck  in  the  difference 
of  height,  to  the  advantage  of  the  right,  of  its  two  lateral 
halves ;  the  superiority  of  height  of  the  left  hemithorax  is 
in  the  same  case. 


186  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  abdomen  behaves  very  differently  according  as  one 
regards  its  superior  portion,  the  superiliac  or  its  inferior 
portion,  the  interiliac.  This  latter  maintains,  in  the  course 
of  growth,  the  superiority  of  its  right  half;  however,  for  the 
superiliac  portion,  the  superiority  from  one  semester  to 
another  passes  from  left  to  right  and  vice  versa. 

Causes  of  asymmetry. — The  asymmetries  of  the  thoracic 
members  exist  in  the  new-born.  Thev  are  measurable.  The 
other  asymmetries  are  not.  I  mean  those  of  the  neck,  of  the 
trunk,  and  of  the  pelvic  members. 

The  first  proceed  then  from  the  ontogenetic  embryo-foetal 
elaboration  determined,  I  think,  by  heredity.  The  various 
factors  other  than  heredity  do  not  resist  analysis.  More- 
over, hereditary  left-handedness  and  hereditary  ambidex- 
terity are  not  contested.  Why  should  it  be  otherwise  with 
hereditary  right-handedness  ? 

We  are  quite  certainly  in  the  presence  of  heredity  of  a 
character  acquired  by  the  effect  of  the  functional  conditions 
of  daily  life.  A  particular  circumstance  of  its  evolution 
seems  favorable  to  this  manner  of  looking  at  it, — it  is  its 
progress  throughout  age,  in  an  inverse  direction  from  that 
of  growth,  but  in  the  very  direction  of  the  function.  And, 
besides,  do  we  not  see  the  "consecutive"  asymmetries,  those 
of  the  abdominal  members,  of  the  trunk,  of  the  neck,  at  the 
genesis  of  which  we  were  present,  proceed  although  indirectly 
from  the  function?  to  derive  from  the  unilateral  localization 
of  manual  superactivity? 

In  effect,  it  is  to  be  dated  from  the  time  when  the  child 
stands  up  and  commences  to  act  in  a  continuous  fashion, 
during  waking  hours,  that  the  "consecutive"  asymmetries 
appear  little  by  little :  those  of  the  lower  limbs  which  sub- 
side under  the  surcharge  of  the  corresponding  side,  right  in 
the  right-handed,  left  in  the  left-handed,  leave  the  role  the 


Asymmetry  and  Education  187 

more  active,  the  superiority  of  the  length  of  bone  and  muscu- 
lar hyperplasia,  which  creates  the  crossed  asymmetry  men- 
tioned in  my  note  of  1900.  There  come  again,  under  the 
action  of  this  surcharge  of  the  superior  right  limb,  the  lower- 
ing of  the  right  shoulder,  in  the  right-handed,  the  sinking 
of  the  summit  of  the  right  hemithorax,  the  following  up  of 
the  first  dorsal  vertebrae  of  this  same  side,  with  production 
of  an  inflexion  of  the  dorsal  spine  to  a  left  convexity,  that 
is,  in  an  inverse  direction  to  the  most  habitual  jjathological 
incurvation  and  even  to  the  physiological  depression  due  to 
the  aorta.  By  compensation,  the  cervical  column  becom 
convex  to  the  right,  and  the  head  remains  lightly  inclined  to 
the  left.  Below,  the  inclination  to  the  right  of  the  pelvis 
corrects  the  compensating  tendencies  of  the  sub-thoracic 
segment  of  the  vertebral  column. 

In  the  left-handed,  these  phenomena  are  reversed.  The 
ambidextrous  person  does  not  show  them  if  his  bimanual 
activity  is,  not  special,  but  general. 

Is  one  not  authorized  to  admit  that  there  have  likewise 
been  some  asymmetries  which  it  is  necessary  for  us  now  to 
consider  as  primitive,  and  that  they  are  also  born  of  func- 
tion? I  am  forced  to  this  conclusion  so  much  the  more 
because  I  have  seen  the  different  asymmetries  more  or  less 
completely  effaced,  without  excepting  from  it  those  of  the 
superior  members,  in  the  adolescents,  in  whom,  aided  by  some 
informed  educators,  I  have  succeeded  in  having  the  habit  of 
bimanual  dexterity  (ambidexterity)  acquired. 

Probable  part  taken  by  the  brain  in  the  functional  asym- 
metries.— Quite  recently,  a  distinguished  physician  of  Celt.  . 
Dr.  Herber,  has  proposed  as  cause  of  localization  at  the 
right  of  manual  superactivity,  the  place  of  the  heart  at  the 
left  and  the  natural  tendencv  to  avoid  or  at  least  to  dimin- 
ish  the  injuries  which  the  work  of  the  left  arm  might  cause  it. 


188  Growth  During  School  Age 

This  seems  logical.  Clinically,  the  author  establishes  some 
close  correlations  between  the  functioning  of  the  heart  and 
the  functioning  of  the  superior  left  limb ;  the  numerous  left- 
handed  persons  whom  one  meets  do  not,  however,  argue  in 
this  direction.  The  functional  activity  of  the  superior  left 
limb  which  a  bimanual  education  commenced  early  obtains 
easily  in  the  right-handed,  which  I  myself  have  obtained,  has 
not  furnished  me  any  occasion  to  verify  any  repercussion 
on  the  heart. 

If  the  heart  were  by  the  place  which  it  occupies  at  the 
left,  the  cause  of  the  above-mentioned  localization,  left- 
handedness  would  have  to  be  the  exclusive  appanage  of  those 
whose  heart  occupies  the  right  side  of  the  thorax.  Now, 
out  of  100  left-handed  persons,  I  have  not  found  a  single 
case  of  visceral  (splanchnic)  inversion,  of  transposition  of 
the  heart  to  the  right.  I  have  seen  of  them  only  the  invet- 
erate left-handed,  adults  showing  no  sign  at  all  of  degen- 
eracy such  as  one  encounters  in  great  number. 

It  is  advisable  nevertheless  not  to  decide  against  this 
manner  of  looking  at  the  question  before  having  observed 
much.  So  much  the  more  as  this  functional  correlation 
between  the  superior  limbs  and  the  heart  would  perhaps  be 
susceptible  of  enlightening  the  question  of  the  part  taken  by 
the  brain  in  the  functional  asymmetries. 

A  functional  localization  can  possibly  imply  a  cerebral 
participation.  That  is  doubted  by  no  one.  The  question  is 
to  know  if  it  is  a  matter  of  an  anatomical  modification  at 
the  level  of  the  center  called  to  preside  over  the  superactive 
unilateral  function,  or  indeed  if  there  is  on  the  cerebral  side 
only  a  state  of  physiological  repose,  an  educative  insuffi- 
ciency, bearing  no  injury  at  all  to  the  cellular  condition, 
and  consequently  susceptible  of  being  modified  by  an  appro- 
priate education. 


Asymmetry  and  Education  189 

In  1883, — Bardelebcn  had  not  yet,  as  much  as  I  know, 
touched  this  subject, — I  had  the  occasion  to  examine  two 
brains  of  left-handed  Arabs,  a  young  man  and  an  old  one. 
A  profound  study  of  these  two  brains  showed  no  trace  in 
them  at  all  of  macroscopic  anatomical  modifications  corre- 
sponding to  the  function  of  the  superior  limbs. 

On  the  other  hand,  my  different  statistics  of  left-handed 
persons  among  the  Arabs  and  the  Kabyles,  in  soldiers  of 
various  regions  of  France,  in  scholars,  of  whom  I  have  com- 
pared metrically  the  two  hands  and  the  two  feet,  have  never 
revealed  to  me  a  particular  state  of  the  less  active  member 
susceptible  of  hindering  it  at  a  given  moment,  from  doing 
as  the  other  member. 

Bimanual  education  (ambidexterity). — In  a  great  num- 
ber of  young  people,  several  days  of  exercise  sufficed  to  ren- 
der the  left  hand  qualified  to  execute  the  greater  part  of  the 
useful  movements  which  the  right  hand  alone  executed  before. 
At  this  very  time,  I  have  just  obtained  with  a  month  of 
exercise  in  a  little  left-handed  girl  of  eleven  years  who  is 
two  years  from  her  puberty  (see  Chapter  X),  the  indiffer- 
ent use  of  both  hands.  It  was  a  matter  of  a  lateral  curva- 
ture of  the  spine  (scoliosis)  by  functional  asymmetry;  the 
curvature  has  yielded  in  four  months. 

The  effect  of  bimanual  education  is  an  excellent  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  the  purely  physiological  participation  of 
the  brain  in  the  primordial  functional  asymmetry  of  the 
superior  limbs ;  it  tends  to  demonstrate  that  left-handed- 
ness  is  not  at  all  a  steady  sign  of  degeneration  ;  it  is  at  the 
same  time  a  valuable  pedagogical  indication. 

In  a  child  in  whom  the  asymmetry  of  the  shoulders  ap- 
pears to  accentuate  itself  with  exaggeration,  hasten  to  have 
the  "lazy  hand"  exercised  systematically.  If  the  child  is 
still  two  years  from  his  puberty,  the  education  will  be  com- 


190  Growth  During  School  Age 

pleted  quickly  enough.  It  would  have  been  still  more  rapid 
if  the  parents  had  dreamed  of  habituating  their  child  from 
the  c/*adle  up  to  serve  himself  with  both  hands.  You  witness 
the  return  of  a  symmetry  more  or  less  perfect,  in  the  shoul- 
ders, in  the  upper  limbs,  in  the  lower  limbs,  in  the  trunk. 

This  education  is  quite  amenable  to  the  educator.  It  has 
nothing  special  about  it,  and  it  endows  the  child  with  appre- 
ciable resources.  According  to  the  results  which  you  will 
obtain,  the  physician  will  make  to  a  certainty  the  differen- 
tial diagnosis  and  will  reject  all  thought  of  rickets  if  the 
symmetries  are  restored. 

You  judge  by  this  example  of  the  measure  in  which  you 
can  aid  the  action  of  the  physician  by  the  processes  them- 
selves which  give  to  your  educative  direction  its  greatest 
fulness  and  its  most  fruitful  influence. 

Dr.  Livi  admits,2  as  cause  of  the  predominance  of  right- 
handedness,  the  first  position  known  by  the  foetus  in  the 
uterus,  which  results  from  the  place  occupied  by  the  intes- 
tines of  the  mother.  The  superior  right  limb,  finding  itself 
directed  toward  the  abdominal  wall  of  the  mother,  is  free ; 
it  has  greater  ease  for  exercising  itself,  and  it  is  the  right 
hand  which  will  act  after  birth. 

I  adhere  entirely  to  this  physiological  conception  which 
leaves  to  function  its  predominant  role  and  does  not  elim- 
inate the  influence  of  heredity. 

2  Dr.  R.  Livi. — "Sulla  causa  del  destrismo  e  del  mancinismo"  (Atti.  soc. 
rom.   adtropol.   1908,  vol.   14,  pp.   91-94). 


CHAPTER  VII 

AITXANOLOGICAI.  INVESTIGATION   OK   THE   S<    HOLAB 

Anatomical  conditions  of  f miction. — Form  and  .skeleton. — 
Their  modification  by  growth. — Anthropometric  guid- 
ing-marks. 

EACH  of  the  educative  applications  considered  in  the 
preceding  chapters  of  this  second  part  have  shown  that 
the  educator  was  not  free  to  make  simultaneously  to  several 
children  the  application  of  an  educative  and  pedagogical 
process,  and  the  absolute  necessity  for  him  to  individualize 
the  process  whatever  it  be  in  the  physical  order  as  in  the 
intellectual.  Nothing  then  is  more  natural  and  besides  more 
logical  than  now  to  enter  upon  the  chief  object  of  the  educa- 
tional aims  by  the  analytical  study  of  the  development  of 
the  child,  that  is,  the  determination  of  his  somatic  individ- 
uality. 

The  individual  formula,  to  which  my  researches  have  led 
me,  synthesise  sufficiently  the  somatic  individuality  at  each 
instant  of  growth,  and  that  part  of  the  cerebral  individuality 
which  is  responsible  for  it. 

The  gathering  up  of  the  elements  necessary  to  the  making 
up  of  the  individual  formula  is  made  by  means  of  the  proc- 
esses of  observation  of  the  child  which  we  have  called  "aux- 
anological  method,"  to  state  in  a  word  that  it  is  periodical. 
that  it  follows  the  same  child  from  semester  to  semes! 
that  it  is  anthropometric,  not  by  one,  two,  or  three  measure- 
ments, but  by  many,  that  is,  finally  physiological  and  clinical. 

191 


192  Growth  During  School  Age 

Let  us  study  first  this  process  of  investigation  of  the  child, 

after  which  we  shall  see  how  the  indications  collected  must 

be  treated  in   order  to  end  in   making  up   the   "individual 

formula." 

•  •••••• 

From  each  of  the  general  notions,  anatomy,  physiology, 
clinic,  etc.,  we  shall  retain  here  only  the  notions  indispensa- 
ble to  the  knowledge  which  we  propose  to  acquire.  Thus  it 
is  that  the  "form"  will  be  considered  solely  in  function  of 
growth.  The  analysis  of  the  form  of  the  skeleton  is  to  be 
studied  with  special  attention,  because  it  is  the  surest  guide 
for  the  observer  throughout  the  maze  of  organs. 

Anatomical  conditions  of  function. — With  my  eminent 
teacher,  Professor  L.  Manouvrier,  I  am  seeking  to  grasp 
function,  to  know  its  degree  of  activity  and  of  perfection 
throughout  the  anatomical  conditions  by  relying  on  the 
anthropometric  relations  and  the  correlations.  The  varia- 
tions of  form  as  they  are  shown  in  the  course  of  growth,  aid 
singularly  in  interpreting  the  relations  of  the  surface  with 
depth. 

Still,  it  is  necessary  that  the  dimensions  of  the  body  be 
well  determined,  that  its  proportions  have  been  exactly  cal- 
culated, if  one  desires  to  search  into  and  understand  the 
modifications  which  growth  carries  along  with  it.  That 
necessitates  some  fixed  guiding-marks  which  the  skeleton  will 
furnish,  which  is  the  ensemble  of  the  various  pieces  support- 
ing the  organs,  gives  them  their  attachment,  constitutes  for 
them  a  box,  a  cage  or  a  sheath,  procuring  for  them  protec- 
tion and  functional  aid. 

Also  our  dutv  as  educator  is  to  have  a  verv  clear-cut  idea 
of  the  skeleton,  to  know  so  exactly  those  of  its  prominences 
chosen  as  guiding-marks  that  the  finger  will  find  them  in- 
stantly. 


Auxanological  Investigation  and  the  Scholar      193 

Form  and  skeleton. — Plate  XV.  It  is  indispensable  that 
we  draw  mentally  the  skeleton  through  the  contours  of  the 
teguments  of  the  subject  whom  we  are  observing,  and  that 
we  be  in  no  wise  embarrassed  to  reconstruct  it,  if  instead  of 
an  adult,  we  have  to  examine  a  child  of  whom  the  parts  of 
the  skeleton  are  among  each  other  in  a  very  different  rela- 
tion from  what  they  are  in  the  adult  or  even  in  a  child  of 
another  age. 

With  this  relation  changes  the  silhouette  by  reason  of  the 
leading  influence  of  the  frame  on  the  forms.  One  is  conscious 
of  the  modifications  undergone  by  the  silhouette  with  the 
successive  ages  of  the  period  of  growth,  one  is  conscious  of 
these  modifications  throughout  the  digressions  of  the  form, 
but  it  is  difficult  by  a  simple  examination  to  specify  the 
nature  of  the  modifications. 

The  only  means  for  us  to  get  a  correct  idea  of  it  is  to 
utilize  the  guiding-marks  and  the  measure  by  the  estimate 
of  distances,  then  to  compare  between  them  the  relations  to 
which  the  dimensions  noted  give  place. 

The  osseous  frame  determines  the  skeletons  of  the  human 
silhouette ;  it  limits  also  the  cavities  occupied  by  the  internal 
organs,  by  the  viscera,  so  that  it  is  truly  the  bond  of  union 
between  the  organs  of  the  surface  and  the  interior  organs. 
The  skeleton  is  the  support  of  the  locomotive  apparatus, 
which  is  attached  to  it  and  regulates  its  own  dimensions  by 
those  of  the  skeleton.  For  these  various  reasons  the  skele- 
ton will  remain  the  point  of  support  of  our  observations 
throughout  the  successive  ages  until  the  end  of  the  period 
of  growth. 

The  193  bones  of  which  the  skeleton  is  composed  when  it 
is  complete  and  not  provided  with  supernumerary  bones, 
interest  us  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  grouped  in  organs. 

There  are  thus  two  cavities  and  four  limbs  formed  which 


194?  Growth  During  School  Age 

we  must  well  understand  anatomically  in  order  that  the  inter- 
pretation of  their  physiological  correlations  may  be  easy 
and  certain.  The  cavities  are  bounded  by  bones  of  flattened 
form  while  the  limbs  are  represented  by  long  bones. 

In  the  vertebral  column,  as  at  the  level  of  the  extremeties, 
where  the  hand  and  the  foot  are  attached  to  the  limbs,  one 
meets  a  third  sort  of  bone,  the  short  bones.  Their  role  is  in 
some  respect  that  of  the  balls  in  the  wheel-work  of  certain 
machines,  they  multiply  the  articular  surfaces  and  render 
more  varied,  more  supple  and  stronger  the  play  of  the  hand 
like  that  of  the  foot.  The  vertebral  column  also  utilizes  the 
short  bones,  although  in  a  slightly  different  way ;  but  it  is 
however  from  the  multiplicity  of  articulations  that  it  derives 
the  marvelous  variety  of  its  movements  and  force. 

The  articulation  permits  the  bones  to  assume  with  regard 
to  each  other  positions  favorable  to  the  movements  to  be 
accomplished.  They  furnish  some  guiding-marks,  some 
stopping-points  for  our  eye  and  our  finger. 

Finally,  the  greater  part  of  the  bones  present  some 
apophyses,  that  is,  some  prominences,  some  tuberosities, 
some  kinds  of  excrescences  designed  to  give  attachment  to 
some  ligaments  and  some  muscles. 

Some  of  these  prominences  are  excellent  guiding-marks  for 
us,  the  best  which  could  be  for  the  reconstruction  of  the 
skeleton  and  the  evaluation  of  its  dimensions. 

The  two  grand  cavities  are  that  of  the  trunk  and  that  of 
the  cranium. 

The  ribs  and  the  pelvis,  joined  by  the  vertebral  column, 
form  together  a  vast  reservoir  where  numerous  organs  are 
located.  Evervone  knows  their  names.  It  is  their  functional 
role  which  is  of  importance  to  us.  Now,  in  their  ensemble, 
thev  constitute  what  we  can  call  the  "transformer-distribu- 
tor"  of  nutrition. 


Auxanological  Investigation  amd  the  Scholar      195 

The  digestive  apparatus  transforms  what  comes  to  it  from 
the  outside  into  assimilable  substance,  which  the  lymph  and 
the  blood  next  distribute  to  the  tissues  whose  nutrition  they 
thus  assure. 

The  trunk  is  then  a  power  generating  furnace.  The  neck 
is  the  communication  between  the  trunk  and  the  cranium; 
it  is  through  it  that  the  distribution  of  nutrition  passes  up 
from  below  and  the  distribution  of  nervous  force  belonging 
to  the  brain  centers  passes  down  from  above.  The  trunk 
and  the  brain  fill  the  role  of  "accumulator-dispenser"  of 
energy. 

Above  the  neck,  above  that  cervical  portion  of  the  ver- 
tebral column  of  which  one  easily  sees  the  isolation  from  the 
rest  of  the  skeleton,  and  supported  by  it,  rises  the  other 
cavity,  the  cranial  case. 

The  whole  encephalon  is  inclosed  in  it.  Below  the  cere- 
brum are  found,  with  the  cerebellum,  the  successive  convolu- 
tions continued  downward  by  way  of  the  spinal  cord  which 
descends  in  the  channel  of  the  vertebral  column. 

It  is  the  cerebrum  which  occupies  the  highest  part  as  well 
as  the  greatest,  and  it  is  the  variations  of  its  volume  which 
decide  the  dimensions  of  the  reservoir  which  constitutes  the 
cranium. 

It  is  then  understood  that,  when  we  measure  the  cranium, 
we  do  not  measure  the  brain,  but  that  we  evaluate  the  ca- 
pacity of  a  cavity  whose  dimensions  are  proportional  to 
that  of  the  brain  itself;  we  have  in  a  way,  on  the  volume  of 
the  brain,  some  information  such  that  we  can  formulate 
from  the  latter  an  evaluation  sufficiently  close. 

From  this  shaft  of  the  spinal  axis  which  extends  from 
the  hip-bones,  the  point  of  support  in  a  sitting  posture,  to 
the  top  of  the  cranium,  and  which  is  designated  under  the 
name  of  bust,  are  detached  four  branches  at  different  levels, 


196  Growth  During  School  Age 

but  which  are  all  located  on  the  trunk,  on  the  thoracic- 
pelvic  cylinder. 

The  four  limbs  offer  habitually  a  twofold  symmetry  com- 
parable to  that  which  is  found  in  the  trunk  to  the  right  and 
the  left  of  the  median  line,  of  the  axis  of  the  body,  of  the 
spinal  column. 

The  limbs  are  of  interest  to  the  educator  by  reason  of 
their  relative  length,  that  is  by  reason  of  the  proportion 
which  holds  between  their  length  and  the  power  of  the  central 
vital  organs.  They  interest  us  again  by  reason  of  the  re- 
sources of  which  they  dispose  for  action.  These  resources 
are  manifested  by  the  relative  thickness  of  the  bones  and  of 
the  muscles  of  a  like  segment,  of  the  forearm,  for  example 
(the  segment  of  the  upper  limb  included  between  the  elbow 
and  the  hand). 

Anthropometrical  guiding-marks. — Let  us  suppose  now 
that  we  wish  to  reconstruct  this  reservoir,  to  evaluate  the 
relations  which  these  various  parts  affect  between  them;  it 
will  from  now  on  be  with  the  meter  and  no  longer  with  the 
eyes,  and  no  longer  by  means  of  an  approximate  mental 
representation  that  we  shall  have  "to  see"  the  skeleton. 
Plates  XV  and  XVI. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  it  is  on  the  living  body  that  we 
must  find  it;  it  is  through  the  flesh  covered  with  its  tegu- 
ments that  we  must  reconstruct  it.  Also  we  shall  never 
have  the  guiding-marks  fixed  too  accurately,  and  we  shall 
never  be  too  well  acquainted  with  their  disclosures  on  the 
living  body. 

The  anthropometric  guiding-marks  are  the  following: 

The  top,  the  culminating  point  of  the  head  or  vertex. 

The  point  of  the  prominence  which  guards  the  entrance 
to  the  auditory  canal  or  point  of  the  antitragus. 


Auxanological  Investigation  cmd  the  Scholar      197 

The  sternal  furculum  or  fork,  or  the  superior  edge  of 
the  sternum. 

The  pubis,  superior  surface  of  the  median  part  of  the 
anterior  bone  of  the  pelvis. 

The  grand  trochanter,  the  superior  edge  of  the  promi- 
nence which  forms  the  upper  extremity  of  the  femur. 

The  acromion,  the  outer  end  of  the  process  of  the  scapula 
which  forms  an  arch  over  the  head  of  the  humerus. 

The  medius,  the  lower  extremity  of  the  middle  finger  of 
the  hand. 

The  guiding-marks  which  precede  are  used  to  determine 
heights  above  the  ground. 

The  measure  of  diameters  requires  two  guiding-marks  sit- 
uated in  the  same  horizontal  or  vertical  plane,  except  for 
the  antero-posterior  diameter  of  the  cranium,  where  one 
takes  the  center  of  the  forehead  approximately  (at  the 
metopic  point)  and  the  point  the  farthest  removed  from  the 
occipital  convexity.  The  other  guiding-marks  of  diameters 
of  the  cranium  are :  the  most  widely  separated  parietal  con- 
vexities for  the  maximum  transverse  diameter,  then,  for 
vertical  diameter,  the  distance  from  the  vertex  to  the  anti- 
tragus. 

The  thorax  offers,  as  level  for  diameter,  the  sterao- 
xiphoidian  space,  the  top  of  the  sternum,  and  it  is  at  this 
level  that  the  corresponding  prominence  is  sought  in  the 
vertebral  column. 

It  is  at  the  level  also  of  the  articulation  of  the  xiphoid 
appendix  with  the  sternum  that  the  space  between  the  lateral 
convex  surfaces  of  the  ribs  is  determined. 

The  girths  are  taken  at  the  level  of  the  maximum  thick- 
ness, the  greatest  thickness  corresponding  to  the  swell  or 
bellv  of  the  muscles,  and  at  the  level  of  the  minimum  thick- 


198  Growth  During  School  Age 

ness,  the  smallest  thickness  of  the  segment.  The  minimum 
thickness  answers  to  the  thickness  of  the  bones.  These  two 
circumferences  are  taken  on  the  forearm,  according  to  our 
individual  record  card. 

The  chest  girths  are  taken  at  two  heights.  The  one  passes 
immediately  under  the  armpits,  the  other  at  the  level  of  the 
articulation  of  the  posterior  segment  of  the  sternum  (xiphis- 
ternum).  The  form  of  a  truncated  cone  and  the  various  re- 
liefs of  the  trunk  render  these  circumferences  difficult  to  take 
with  exactness  and  almost  impossible  in  the  feminine  sex. 

There  are  only  few  advantages  in  replacing  them  by  the 
chest  diameters. 

The  extremities,  the  foot  and  the  hand  are  well  marked 
by  a  sketch  of  their  contour.  But  it  is  necessary  to  know 
how  to  recognize  the  head  or  the  anterior  extremity  of  the 
first  and  fifth  metatarsus,  and  likewise,  in  the  hand,  the 
second  and  fifth  metacarpus,  because  the  distance  which 
separates  them  represents  the  diameter  of  each  of  these 
organs.  The  extremity  from  the  styloid  process  of  the 
radius  to  the  wrist,  quite  easy  to  recognize,  marks  the  termi- 
nation of  the  forearm  and  the  beginning  of  the  hand.  The 
tangential  transversal  line  to  the  extremity  of  the  finger  or 
of  the  longest  toe  marks  the  end  of  these  two  organs.  This 
last  is  sometimes  the  great  toe,  sometimes  the  second. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MEASUREMENT    OF    THE    SCHOLAR    IN    ACCORDANCE    WITH    THE 
"INDIVIDUAL   RECORD    OF    GROWTH"  X 

The  observation  room. — The  anthropometric  instruments. — 
Care  in  checking  one's  self. — Working  manual. — 
Heights,  diameters,  circumferences,  contours,  weight. 

OBSERVATION  ROOM.— You  will  realize  the  indispen- 
sable conditions  of  scientific  observation  in  not  fearing 
to  study  carefully  each  of  the  details  susceptible  of  con- 
tributing to  your  good  preparation. 

In  a  room  rather  small,  easy  to  heat,  have  a  very  smooth 
artificial  platform  or  floor  on  which  the  child's  feet  will  not 
strike  any  splinters ;  a  platform  which  assures  an  even  hori- 
zontal plane  for  the  soles  of  the  subject's  feet  and  for  the 
lower  end  of  the  measuring  instrument.  If  this  floor  is  made 
a  part  of  the  instrument  as  in  the  auxanometer,  it  is  un- 
necessary to  have  a  special  one  constructed ;  this  is  clear 
gain  and  is  convenient.  The  measures  of  height  once  taken, 
the  platform  of  the  auxanometer  disappears  with  the  instru- 
ment and  does  not  encumber  the  floor  of  the  room. 

The  subject  under  observation  is  placed  on  this  platform 
facing  the  window.  The  observer  turns  his  back  to  the  light 
and  sees  the  child  whom  he  is  examining  in  full  light.  The 
secretary,  seated  facing  the  light,  has  before  him  a  table 

1  Dr.  Paul  Godin,  La  Formvle  indivklueUe  de  croissance.  Paris,  A. 
Maloine,  edit.,  1913,  et  a  l'lnstitut — J.  J.  Rousseau.  Mensurations  pages 
2,  3,  5,  6.     Notations  pages  1,  3,  4,  6,  7,  9,  10,  11,  et  12. 

199 


200  Growth  During  School  Age 

whose  one  end  is  a  half  meter  from  the  platform  of  the 
instrument,  within  reach  so  he  can  take  up  from  it  at  need 
various  instruments :  the  measuring  tape,  the  pen,  the  cali- 
per, the  small  metal  gauge  or  the  large  wooden  gauge. 

Anthropometric  instruments. — The  instrument  standing 
alone  (it  forms  a  stationary  part  of  the  platform  of  the 
auxanometer)  both  hands  of  the  observer  are  free  and  can 
be  used  in  seeking  the  guiding-marks  and  for  maintaining 
the  child  in  the  position  desired  in  the  examination.  It  is 
also  an  advantageous  condition  for  rapidity  of  execution. 

The  auxanometer. — The  instrument  which  I  constructed 
suffices  for  all  the  measurements  which  the  educator  and  the 
physician  may  have  to  take.  It  unites  three  instruments  in 
a  single  one:  the  instrument  for  measuring  vertical  height, 
the  instrument  for  measuring  horizontal  distance,  and  the 
large  gauge.  The  instrument  is  taken  to  pieces  in  two  parts. 
The  upper  part  bears  a  scale  on  the  side  in  inverse  direction 
from  the  total  graduation  of  the  instrument,  which  allows 
of  its  being  used  as  a  large  gauge.  Three  indicators  receive 
some  rods  designed  to  come  in  contact  with  the  guiding- 
marks.  One  of  the  indicators  is  fastened  at  the  upper  ex- 
tremity of  instrument.  It  will  form  the  hand-lever  of  the 
large  gauge  in  measuring  diameters.  Of  the  two  other  in- 
dicators, the  one  is  supplied  on  the  inside  with  a  spring  in 
order  to  prevent  its  falling  in  vertical  measurements. 

The  base  of  the  instrument  is  furnished  with  a  sheath  into 
which  enters  an  iron  rod  itself  soldered  at  its  lower  part  to 
a  square  plate  of  the  same  metal ;  the  rod  enters  a  hole  in 
the  platform  and  the  plate  goes  into  a  mortise  of  its  dimen- 
sions sunk  to  the  lower  side  of  the  platform.  A  shield,  sur- 
mounted by  a  thumbscrew,  is  next  passed  over  the  rod  in 
order  to  facilitate  the  movement  of  the  rectangular  part  of 
the  instrument  around  this  axis,  which  presents  at  about 


Measurement  of  the  Scholar  201 

midway  a  groove  in  which  is  secured  a  screw  whose  head 
emerges  at  the  surface  of  the  instrument.  The  tightening 
of  this  screw  renders  the  instrument  and  the  metallic  pivot 
firm  without  impeding  the  revolution  of  the  rectangle  around 
its  axis.  The  base  of  the  instrument  is  fastened  in  the  same 
ways  although  horizontally  to  the  support  which  is  adjusted 
at  will  to  one  of  the  extremities  of  the  platform,  and  permits 
horizontal  measurements  of  a  baby.  The  horizontal  instru- 
ment is  supported  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  platform  by 
a  movable  piece.  A  folding  stool  30  centimeters  in  height 
completes  the  outfit  which  in  its  ensemble  has  received  the 
name  auxanometer  from  the  educator  and  includes:  (1) 
base  of  instrument,  (2)  top  of  instrument,  (3)  stationary 
indicator,  (4)  movable  indicator  with  spring,  (5)  movable 
indicator  without  spring,  (6)  rod  for  the  indicator  with 
spring,  (7)  rod  for  stationary  indicator,  (8)  rod  for  in- 
dicator without  spring,  (9)  platform,  (10)  stay,  (11)  sup- 
port, (12)  stool  of  30  cm.,  (13)  metal  axis  soldered  to 
square  iron  plate,  (11)  metal  sheath,  (15)  thumbscrew, 
(16)  key,  (17)  measuring  tape. 

The  Broca  caliper  and  the  metal  gauge  are  utilized  only 
for  the  measuring  of  the  cranium  and  the  face.  The  educa- 
tor and  the  physician  can  replace  them  by  the  large  gauge 
of  the  auxanometer  which  is  easier  to  handle  and  is  without 
danger  for  little  children. 

A  pencil  unsheathed  by  boiling  water,  or  a  flat  pencil, 
enables  one  to  follow  exactly  the  contour  of  the  foot  and  of 
the  hand  according  to  Manouvrier's  method.  If  one  limits 
himself  to  two  diameters  of  the  foot  and  hand,  he  has  re- 
course to  the  large  gauge.  But  the  contour  is  very  quickly 
taken,  and  the  graph  obtained  is  a  very  sure  record. 

Finally,  a  place  is  reserved  for  a  pair  of  scales  capable 
of  weighing  at  least  80  kilos. 


202  Growth  During  School  Age 

After  being  assured  that  the  small  instruments  are  at 
hand,  in  a  way  to  be  able  to  take  them  up  mechanically,  and 
so  being  distracted  by  nothing  from  the  observation  of  the 
child,  the  observer  placed  as  is  directed  above  turning  his 
back  to  the  window  and  facing  the  child  in  full  light,  pro- 
ceeds to  the  measuring.  He  determines  each  guiding-mark, 
and,  lowering  or  raising  the  indicator,  he  brings  the  rod  in 
contact  with  the  guiding-mark,  the  index  finger  of  the  left 
hand  of  the  operator  acting  as  scout  or  fore-runner,  as  well 
for  assuring  accuracy  of  the  point  of  contact  as  for  protect- 
ing the  skin  from  the  point  of  the  metal  rod  or  of  the 
wooden  rule  which  I  have  substituted  for  it  for  little  chil- 
dren. 

Each  number  read  on  the  instrument  in  hand  is  called 
aloud  by  the  observer,  and  repeated  aloud  by  the  secretary, 
who  writes  it  at  the  same  time  and  immediately  announces 
the  rubric  of  the  following  measurement,  so  that  the  num- 
ber called  aloud  twice  is  better  safeguarded  against  error. 

Care  in  checking  up  one's  self. — On  the  other  hand,  the  ob- 
server realizes  a  valuable  check,  if  he  is  ignorant  of  the 
figure  obtained  in  the  preceding  examination  when  he  takes 
the  new  measure. 

At  the  debut  of  each  period  of  measuring,  one  identical 
subject  ought  to  be  measured  two  or  three  times,  either  the 
same  day  or  at  a  day's  interval,  in  order  to  check  up  at  the 
same  time  the  hand  of  the  observer  and  the  attention  of  the 
secretary,  the  attitude  of  the  adolescent  and  the  accuracy 
of  the  instruments. 

I  have  always  taken  great  pride  in  having  proceeded  thus 
in  the  course  of  my  measurements  in  the  schools  (1891- 
1901).  These  experiments  presented  besides  the  advantage 
of  being  very  instructive  from  other  points  of  view. 


Measurement  of  the  Scholar  203 

The  educator  and  the  physician  share  in  the  care  of  taking 
the  measurements  and  the  notations  of  the  individual  record. 
By  the  individual  medical  record,  the  physician  will  con- 
tribute to  the  direction  of  education  some  information  of 
the  greatest  importance.  But  if  the  educator  is  isolated,  if 
he  can  assure  his  pupils  the  assistance  of  a  physician  only 
in  case  of  illness,  then  he  will  do  well  to  add  to  the  measure- 
ments all  the  notations  which  he  will  be  able  to  formulate 
with  some  guarantee  of  absolute  accuracy. 

Working  manual.  Heights. — The  body  of  the  child  being 
quite  perpendicular,  quite  vertical,  the  observer  places  the 
rod  of  the  indicator  on  the  vertex  of  the  subject  whom  he 
has  had  carefully  seated  on  a  stool  30  centimeters  high ;  the 
lower  limbs  apart  and  half  extended;  the  body  is  straight- 
ened, a  position  which  is  obtained  in  all,  small,  large,  cul- 
tured and  uncultured,  provided  that  one  knows  that  the  left 
hand  must  rest  on  the  spiny  prominences  of  the  third  and 
fourth  lumbar  vertebrae,  while  the  right  hand  presses  on  the 
chin.  The  straightening  is  instantaneous  and  the  height 
seated  is  taken  with  great  accuracy. 

Directly  this  measure  being  called  and  recorded,  the  child 
is  made  to  stand  up,  very  erect,  heels  together  but  not  quite 
touching  and  the  toes  spread.  The  rod  then  just  touches 
the  vertex  where  the  hair  has  been  parted.  This  gives  the 
stature. 

The  observer  next  places  the  point  of  the  indicator  rod 
at  the  point  of  the  auditory  canal  represented  by  the  cul- 
minating point  of  the  antitragus.  He  rests  the  pointer  on 
the  semi-flat  surface  which  the  fork  of  the  sternum  (sternal 
furculum)  presents,  at  the  anterior  base  of  the  neck.  From 
there,  he  lowers  it  to  the  pubis,  whose  superior  edge  at  the 
median  part  is  recognized  in  depressing  a  little  the  abdomi- 


204  Growth  During  School  Age 

nal  wall  and  besides  is  found  very  exactly  marked  by  the 
cutaneous  transversal  fold  which  stripes  the  skin  of  the  abdo- 
men at  this  point. 

The  child  is  then  turned  three-quarters 'to  the  right  (this 
change  cannot  be  a  cause  of  error  owing  to  the  platform  of 
the  auxanometer),  and  the  height  of  the  following  guiding- 
marks  is  read: 

Acromion,  at  the  sharp  external  edge  of  that  process 
which  forms  the  arch  above  the  articulation  of  the  shoulder, 
but  is  a  little  back  of  the  prominence  which  the  head  of  the 
humerus  forms  below. 

Medius,  at  the  inferior  extremity  of  the  middle  finger  not 
including  the  nail,  the  hand  well  extended. 

The  great  trochanter,  its  superior  edge,  prominence  sit- 
uated below  the  prominence  of  the  hip,  at  the  origin  of  the 
thigh,  at  the  same  height  as  the  pubis,  several  millimeters 
approximately,  outside.  One  recognizes  it  by  placing  both 
hands  on  the  flat  of  the  thighs  at  the  middle  part,  then  pass- 
ing the  hands  up  and  down  while  pressing  down  a  little. 
During  this  time,  the  left  hand  stops  the  body  from  yield- 
ing to  the  pressure  of  the  right,  and  the  latter  can  follow 
thus  the  relief  of  the  great  femoral  process  and  sinks  as  soon 
as  the  process  ceases  in  the  half-flat  of  the  external  iliac 
depression  (fossa).  The  left  index  finger  is  placed  on  the 
crest  of  the  trochanter  in  order  to  guide  the  point  of  the 
indicator  with  precision. 

Another  way  of  proceeding  in  order  to  mark  the  great 
trochanter  is  the  following:  the  radial  edges  of  the  two 
index  fingers  are  rested  on  the  right  and  left  hips  (iliac 
crests)  of  the  subject  observed.  The  indexes  cross  this 
obstacle  and  descend  while  depressing  the  tissues  until  the 
meeting  of  the  trochanter  prominence  which  seems  closer  to 
the  posterior  plane  of  the  thigh. 


Measurement  of  the  Scholar  205 

Diameters. — Following  height,  it  is  in  order  to  measure 
the  diameters.  The  diameters  taken  directly  measure  thick- 
ness and  breadth.  The  vertical  diameters,  which  are  some 
measures  of  length,  are  obtained  by  the  subtraction  of  two 
heights.  One  of  them,  however,  is  taken  directly.  This  is 
the  vertical  diameter  of  the  cranium. 

The  antero-posterior  chest  diameter  is  taken  at  the  level 
of  the  lower  extremity  of  the  sternum,  which  is  easily  found 
at  the  summit  of  the  angle  formed  by  the  inferior  convergent 
edges  of  the  thoracic  cage,  in  front.     Plate  XV. 

One  of  the  indicators  of  the  large  gauge  is  applied  tan- 
gentially  to  the  base  of  the  last  bone  of  the  sternum,  the 
other  one  to  the  prominence  of  the  spinal  process  which  it 
meets  in  the  same  plane. 

The  other  diameter  of  the  thorax,  the  transverse,  is  taken 
at  the  same  xiphoi-sternal  height  (Plate  XV),  the  two  indi- 
cators of  the  large  gauge  resting  on  the  costal  convexities 
and  binding  a  trifle.  The  first  time,  the  diameter  is  noted 
when  the  child  is  at  rest,  that  is,  respires  quietly.  The 
second  time  it  is  noted  when  the  child  has  drawn  a  deep 
breath  and  the  thoracic  cage  is  expanded  to  the  maximum. 
It  may  be  useful  to  take  a  third  diameter  just  as  one  of 
you  asked  me,  the  transverse  diameter  at  the  moment  when 
the  lungs  are  in  forced  expiration.  It  requires,  it  is  true, 
on  the  part  of  the  child,  a  certain  degree  of  physical  culture 
and  a  special  preparation  without  which  he  would  execute 
badty  the  movement  of  thoracic  expulsion. 

To  the  head,  Broca's  caliper  will  be  applied  in  front, 
almost  at  the  center  of  the  forehead,  above  the  arches  of 
the  eyebrows,  between  the  frontal  mounds  (bosses)  ;  behind, 
the  other  arm  will  seek  the  most  salient  part  of  the  occipital 
convexity  in  the  same  antero-posterior  plane.  This  is  the 
antero-posterior  frontal  diameter. 


206  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  transversal  diameter  is  taken  at  the  maximum,  that  is, 
where  the  compass  is  open  widest  in  the  horizontal  plane, 
higher  or  lower  above  the  auricle  of  the  ear ;  farther  for- 
ward or  farther  backward  according  to  the  individual. 

As  to  the  vertical  diameter,  which  represents  the  distance 
between  the  center  of  the  auditory  canal  and  the  vertex,  it 
is  measured  by  the  steel  gauge  with  its  indicator  rod  taken 
off.  Its  stationary  horizontal  arm  is  placed  on  the  top  of 
the  cranium,  the  hair  being  put  aside,  the  graduated  arm 
descends  tangentially  to  the  temples ;  the  greatest  care  is 
taken  of  the  vertical  direction  of  the  descending  arm  which 
must  be  parallel  to  the  axis  of  the  body,  then  the  figure 
corresponding  to  the  point  of  the  antitragus  is  read  on  the 
scale. 

Circumferences. — The  circumferences  are  interesting 
measurements  because  they  give  some  information  on  the 
thickness  of  the  various  parts  of  the  body.  Their  disadvan- 
tage is  to  vary  greatly  for  a  very  small  difference  of  level, 
as  well  for  the  limbs  as  for  the  trunk. 

For  the  limbs,  that  is  remedied  by  taking  the  maximum 
circumference.  It  is  a  matter  of  raising  and  lowering  the 
tape  measure  until  there  is  certainty  of  the  maximum  figure, 
and  it  is  that  which  is  recorded.  The  same  holds  for  the 
minimum  circumference,  which  avoids  an  error  of  the  same 
kind.  It  requires  the  same  care  to  determine  exactly  the 
smallest  circumference,  a  fact  that  necessitates  several  trials 
at  different  heights. 

The  minimum  circumference  of  the  forearm  is  located 
above  the  prominences  of  the  inferior  part  of  the  two  bones 
of  the  forearm,  the  radius  and  ulna.  The  wrist  is  below 
these  prominences,  between  them  and  the  hand. 

The  rubric,  "circumference  of  the  wrist,"  does  not  fit.  It 
is  the  "minimum  circumference  of  the  forearm"  which  we 


Measurement   of  the  Scholar  207 

ought  to  keep  as  the  designation  of  that  measurement,  of 
so  much  greater  importance  as  it  furnishes  us  the  thickness 
of  the  bones.  Now  the  bones  of  the  forearm,  in  the  child, 
are  not  perceptibly  larger  at  the  superior  third  of  the  fore- 
arm, at  the  level  of  the  belly  of  the  muscles.  So  that  the 
difference  between  their  circumference,  or  the  minimum  cir- 
cumference of  the  forearm,  and  the  circumference  of  the 
muscles  or  maximum  girth  of  the  forearm  gives  us  very 
accurate  information  on  the  thickness  of  the  muscles. 

Immediately  below  the  elbow,  where  the  forearm  is  shown 
to  be  largest,  is  found  the  maximum  circumference  of  this 
segment. 

The  investigation  of  maxima  and  minima  is  applicable  to 
the  circumferences  of  the  trunk  in  only  an  approximate 
fashion. 

It  is  satisfactory  to  take  the  thoracic  perimeters  at  the 
anatomical  point  recommended  without  investigating  the 
maximum  and  minimum  thickness.  The  horizontal  position 
of  the  tape  measure  is  carefully  watched.  For  the  one 
measurement,  the  tape  will  pass  tight  against  the  edge  of 
the  armpits,  and  will  supply  the  circumference  under  the 
armpits.  For  the  other,  more  specially  called  "thoracic 
perimeter,"  the  tape  will  be  passed  around  the  body  at  the 
height  at  which  the  chest  diameters  were  taken,  that  is,  at 
the  level  of  the  inferior  extremity  of  the  sternum,  described 
above. 

Unfortunately,  in  children  especially,  the  sternum  is  still 
very  short  and  the  tape  meets  at  the  back  the  inferior  angles 
of  the  shoulder  blades  (or  scapulum)  and  passes  bridgelike 
from  one  to  the  other  in  order  to  cross  the  median  furrow 
which  corresponds  to  the  spine  processes  of  the  spinal 
column. 

There  is  in  these  anatomical  conditions  an  important  cause 


208  Growth  During  School  Age 

of  error.  The  error  is  here  rendered  more  serious  by  this 
fact  that  it  cannot  be  evaluated  by  a  constant  figure,  per- 
mitting rigid  correction  of  it ;  it  varies  at  each  repetition 
of  the  measurement.  It  is  further  accentuated  at  the  time 
of  puberty  as  a  result  of  the  "winged"  disposition  which 
the  shoulder  blades  often  take,  and  as  a  result  of  the  volume 
which  the  breasts  in  young  girls  take  on.  These  various 
morphological  conditions  necessarily  disturb  the  measure- 
ment of  the  circumference  of  the  chest  already  so  uncertain. 

You  understand,  do  you  not,  my  tendency  to  take  only 
very  relative  account  of  the  thoracic  perimeter,  and  to  re- 
quire of  the  diameters  the  reliable  information  which  the 
circumferences  cannot  give  unless  they  are  multiplied  and 
surrounded  by  numerous  other  measurements  as  they  are  in 
my  researches? 

Contour  of  the  hand  and  of  the  foot. — It  may  be  that 
you  have  not  the  desired  facilities  to  take  the  contour  of  the 
hand  and  of  the  foot  after  the  excellent  method  of  Manouv- 
rier;  it  is  in  that  case  that  you  will  have  to  limit  yourself 
to  the  measurement  of  the  length  and  breadth  of  each  of 
these  two  organs  by  means  of  the  gauge  (compas-glissieres), 
the  hand,  like  the  foot,  resting  flat  on  a  plane  surface.  I 
call  to  your  attention  the  guiding-marks  analysed  above  at 
the  time  of  the  study  of  the  skeleton ;  for  the  foot,  from  the 
heel  to  the  extremity  of  the  longest  toe,  for  the  hand, 
from  point  of  styloid  processes  of  the  radius,  which  corre- 
sponds almost  in  all  to  the  wrinkle  of  the  bending  of  the 
skin  on  the  anterior  face  of  the  wrist,  to  the  extremity  of 

» 

the  longest  finger.  As  to  the  breadths,  these  are  the  articu- 
lar heads  of  the  fifth  and  the  first  metatarsus  in  the  foot, 
of  the  second  and  fifth  metacarpus  in  the  hand  which  con- 
stitute the  guiding-marks. 

I  know  that  you  do  not  treat  these  repetitions  as  negli- 


Measurement  of  the  Scholar  209 

gible  tautologies  and  that  you  are  seizing,  with  your  avidity 
of  knowing  all  that  is  useful  to  the  child,  these  notions  which, 
thanks  to  our  objective,  are  directly  connected  to  function, 
and  have  nothing  of  the  usual  dryness  of  anatomical  notions. 
And  it  is  because  you  have  many  times  testified  your  willing- 
ness to  know  the  child  not  superficially,  but  as  profoundly 
as  possible,  it  is  on  that  account  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
recur  apropos  the  working  manual  to  the  important  guiding- 
marks. 

As  to  contours,  you  will  obtain  excellent  ones  by  taking 
the  following  steps :  the  hand  is  placed  flat,  the  palm  resting 
on  the  table,  a  sheet  of  paper  between.  The  fingers  are  ex- 
tended close  together,  except  the  thumb  which  keeps  its  nat- 
ural distance.  The  middle  finger  is  kept  on  the  prolongation 
of  the  axis  of  the  forearm  which  remains  slightly  raised. 

With  the  flat  pencil,  or  the  round  pencil  unsheathed  by 
passing  it  a  few  minutes  into  boiling  water,  the  two  extremi- 
ties of  the  wrinkle  of  the  bend  on  the  palm  side  of  the  wrist 
are  marked ;  or,  if  one  does  not  desire  to  have  a  difference 
often  harmful,  embarrassing,  between  the  length  of  the  hand 
measured  in  projection  and  the  length  of  the  hand  measured 
on  the  contour,  one  marks  of  the  two  transversal  lines  the 
points  of  the  styloid  processes  of  the  radius  and  ulna.  The 
pencil  remaining  vertical,  traverse  next  the  contour  of  the 
hand  resting  continually  its  flat  surface  against  the  tegu- 
ments. Next,  one  separates  the  fingers  one  by  one  except 
the  medius  which  must  remain  the  fixed  axis,  and  one  makes 
a  point  at  the  bottom  of  each  interdigital  space. 

It  is  a  decided  advantage  to  trace  on  the  external  and 
internal  edges,  as  many  transversal,  exterior  lines  to  the 
contour  as  one  perceives  articular  interlines  or  extremities 
of  bony  processes. 

One  proceeds  in  the  same  fashion  for  the  foot ;  the  con- 


210  Growth  During  School  Age 

tour  is  registered  with  a  flat  pencil  after  having  marked  by 
two  transversal  lines  the  middle  of  both  ankles.  It  is  neces- 
sarv  not  to  fail  to  follow  at  each  new  examination  the  same 
procedure  as  at  the  preceding  examinations.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  form  of  the  foot  is  anatomically  more  exact,  if  the 
weight  of  the  body  does  not  bear  on  the  foot  observed.  I 
have  always  had  the  weight  of  the  body  rest  on  both  feet, 
as  in  the  regular  standing  position,  during  the  taking  of  the 
contour  of  each  of  them,  so  as  to  have  the  foot  in  its  func- 
tional state,  with  its  dimensions  in  the  condition  of  working, 
as  the  standing  position  presents  them  for  each  of  the  body's 
segments. 

Weight  of  the  body. — At  the  head  of  the  individual  rec- 
ord card  figures  weight.  It  suffices  to  know  that  the  weight 
ought  always  to  be  taken  without  clothing. 

The  process  of  weighing  the  child  dressed,  then  the  sub- 
traction of  the  weight  of  the  clothes  weighed  afterwards 
separately,  is  hardly  acceptable  for  the  nursling  whom  one 
fears  to  have  take  cold.  It  is  quite  to  be  rejected  for  large 
children. 

This  is  the  way  of  operating  the  measurements  of  a  given 
child,  which  will  always  have  to  be  observed,  stripped  of 
clothing,  supplied  at  the  most  with  bathing  pants. 


CHAPTER  IX 

NOTATIONS  TO  BE  RECORDED  ON   THE  INDIVIDUAL  RECORD   CARD 

OF  GROWTH 

Physiological  and  clinical  setting  of  the  measurements. — 
The  alternations  of  growth  and  the  semestral  period. — 
Notations  to  be  taken  on  the  child  stripped. — Notations 
to  be  taken  on  the  child  when  dressed,  among  them  color 
of  eyes  and  of  hair. — Temperament. — Relation  of  the 
duration  of  repose  to  the  duration  of  effort. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL  and  clinical  setting  of  the  measure- 
ments.— Measurements  would  give  only  incomplete  in- 
struction and  would  be  of  a  limited  utility  if  they  were 
isolated.  They  always  need  a  physiological  and  clinical 
setting,  and  the  end  of  the  notations  is  to  constitute  this 
setting  for  them.  Among  them  some  are  to  be  taken  only 
once,  others  are  to  be  repeated  half-yearly.  The  semester 
is  in  fact  the  most  practical  period  and  the  best  suited  to 
the  physiological  exigencies  of  observation. 

The  most  of  the  alternations,  I  believe  I  have  demonstrated 
above,  can  be  grasped  by  the  semestral  repetition  of  the 
observation.  Doubtless,  when  the  child  is  still  a  baby,  it  is 
interesting  to  follow  him  more  closely,  but  that  matters  more 
for  the  direction  of  his  health  than  for  that  of  his  education 
properly  called,  and  the  physician  will  advise  in  regard  to  it. 
The  semestral  period  is  always  sufficient  at  the  age  at  which 
the  child  attends  school. 

For  each  of  the  notations  which  the  educator  is  called 

211 


212  Growth  During  School  Age 

upon  to  take  down,  I  wish  to  indicate  the  most  practical  and 
rapid  mode  of  evaluation,  and  yet  the  most  capable  to  enter 
with  the  maximum  of  precision  into  the  "individual  for- 
mula," at  the  time  of  its  being  made  up. 

Notations  to  be  taken  on  the  child  stripped. — The  child 
being  naked,  his  "ensemble"  is  evaluated  from  the  first,  and 
noted  by  the  means  of  two  qualifications:  large,  medium, 
small,  to  which  are  added  stout,  puny,  massive,  slender, 
strapping,  etc. 

This  notation  of  ensemble  thus  extended  serves  from  time 
to  time  to  illuminate  various  other  notations ;  it  is  besides 
usefully  representative.  As  the  ensemble  can  be  modified 
with  progress  of  growth,  the  individual  card  will  reserve 
for  this  estimate  as  for  all  those  which  are  going  to  follow, 
the  same  number  of   columns   as   for  the   measurements. 

The  "present  malady"  is  to  be  registered  accordi^  to 
the  diagnosis  of  the  physician.  Likewise,  it  belongs  to  the 
physician  to  diagnose  the  signs  of  the  general  malady,  lim- 
ited or  acquired,  the  symptoms  of  nervous  affection,  present 
or  threatening  nervous  troubles. 

The  master  will  recognize  perfectly  and  will  note  with 
the  greatest  care  scars  of  wounds,  traces  of  blows,  of  bruises, 
discolored  spots,  caused  by  the  effusion  of  blood  into  the 
areolar  tissue,  or  spots  violet,  bluish,  greenish  or  yellow, 
their  location  and  their  cause  with  the  time  when  the  wound 
was  received. 

The  remote  consequences  of  traumatisms  are  not  suffi- 
ciently known.  It  suffices  to  follow  the  same  children,  ob- 
serving them  carefully  through  years  in  order  to  understand 
the  whole  interest  which  is  attached  to  intelligent  first  aid 
of  an  even  slight  injury. 

You  can  alwavs  note  the  asvmmetries  which  will  strike 
you,  those  of  the  face  in  particular.      The  physician  will 


Individual  Record  Card  of  Growth  813 

also  note  on  his  part  the  defects  of  symmetry  having  correla- 
tions with  various  circumstances  which  his  clinical  examina- 
tions will  bring  out. 

The  rubric  "additional  details,"  where  the  asymmetries 
can  be  entered,  is  designed  for  remarks  which  found  no  place 
elsewhere. 

Deformations  are  the  modifications  which  come  in  the 
course  of  growth  such  as  deviations*.  Nevertheless  the  mal- 
formations are  defects  of  organic  construction  which  the 
child  bears  at  birth. 

You  will  be  able  to  estimate  the  general  muscular  relief, 
and  for  that  reason  you  will  have  to  distinguish  the  promi- 
nences formed  by  adipose  tissue.  A  child  may  present  re- 
liefs on  the  calves,  on  the  arms,  and  possess  only  very  slender 
muscles.  These  curves  of  the  surface  of  the  body  which 
imitate  the  muscular  relief  are  observed  in  children  of  the 
female  sex  especially,  but  also  in  very  young  boys,  and  in 
those  who  remain  more  or  less  effeminate. 

It  is  necessary  to  distinguish  with  certainty  the  "embon- 
point" from  the  "muscular  relief,"  and  that  is  not  learned 
theoretically. 

Let  us  leave  to  the  physician  the  care  of  ascertaining  the 
relative  development  of  the  genital  organs. 

You  will  always  be  able  to  note  the  absence  or  the  exist- 
ence of  hair  under  the  arm,  in  default  of  verification  of  the 
appearance  of  it  at  the  pubis,  and  you  will  take  care  to 
indicate  its  abundance  by  the  figures  from  1  to  5,  the  figure 
1  corresponding  to  the  appearance  of  the  first  hairs. 

The  clinical  examination  comes  next,  which  is  quite  en- 
tirely in  the  medical  domain.  You  will  record  only  when  the 
physician  and  the  family  communicate  it  to  you,  the  results 
of  the  clinical  examination  in  what  concerns  the  general  con- 
dition;  that  by  reason  of  the  precautions  which  it  necessi- 


214  Growth  During  School  Age 

tates  or  of  its  influence  on  the  intellectual  condition  and  its 
development.  You  will  also  have  to  take  account  of  the 
visual  and  auditory  defects  pointed  out  by  the  technical 
examination.  You  will  add  only  to  the  preceding  notes  be- 
fore having  the  subject  resume  his  clothing,  some  indications 
on  the  color  of  the  skin,  on  its  coloring  and  on  its  thickness. 

Notations  to  be  taken  on  the  child  when  dressed. — When 
the  child  is  dressed,  vou  will  be  able  to  attend  to  the  record- 
ing  on  the  individual  record  card  of  growth,  the  permanent 
information,  those  details  which  stand  at  the  head,  from  sur- 
name and  given  name  to  personal  antecedents  and  to  mal- 
formations. 

You  will  continue  next  to  note  the  variable  data,  the  part 
of  these  data  which  can  be  taken  on  the  child  clothed,  and 
which  reserve  for  you  the  most  delicate  observations  illu- 
minated henceforth  by  the  knowledge  which  you  have  just 
acquired. 

The  variations  of  the  timber  of  the  voice,  of  its  pitch,  the 
details  attending  the  change,  merit  mention,  as  well  as  the 
condition  of  the  teeth  (good,  3;  poor,  1 ;  average,  2). 

Before  approaching  the  evaluation  of  "force"  under  its 
various  aspects,  if  it  should  appear  profitable  to  you  to  note 
the  color  of  the  hair  and  the  changes  which  are  produced  in 
it,  but  especially  the  color  of  the  eyes,  I  desire  to  indicate  to 
you  the  process  of  observation  to  which  I  have  had  recourse 
in  my  researches  which  have  assured  me  a  real  precision, 
and  rendered  very  attractive  the  determination  of  the  color 
of  the  eyes.  I  transcribe  this  passage  from  my  work, 
"Recherches  anthropometriques  sur  la  croissance  des  diverses 
parties  du  corps,"  1902-03.  ["Anthropometric  Researches 
on  the  Growth  of  Divers  Parts  of  the  Body,"  1902-03.] 

Color  of  the  eyes. — "Contrary  to  what  has  taken  place 
for  capillary  coloration,  the  tint  of  the  iris  which  is  that  of 


Individual  Record  Card  of  Growth  215 

the  eyes,- becomes  lighter  in  45  per  cent  of  children  at  the 
approach  of  puberty.  It  becomes  darker  in  only  18  per 
cent. 

"...  On  the  whole,  in  63  per  cent  of  adolescents,  one 
observes,  at  the  time  of  puberty,  a  modification  of  the  primi- 
tive coloration  of  both  eyes,  while  37  per  cent  retain  the 
same  coloration.   .   .  . 

"...  Sometimes  it  is  a  matter  of  reduction  to  a  single 
color  of  the  complex  primitive  coloration,  as  is  found  in  23 
per  cent.  Sometimes  the  change  consists  only  in  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  first  coloration. 

"...  The  method  of  observation  which  I  have  marked 
out,  recognizes  at  the  surface  of  the  iris,  of  the  eye,  the 
small  and  the  large  circle :  the  first  peripupillary,  inscribed 
in  the  second,  of  constantly  homogeneous  color,  and  almost 
constantly  of  a  darker  shade  than  the  large  circle  from 
which  it  is  often  separated  by  a  border  of  variable  color. 

"The  large  circle,  extended  from  the  limits  of  the  first  to 
the  border  of  the  cornea,  of  complex  coloration,  almost  al- 
ways, as  a  result  of  combination  of  the  retro-iris  (uvea) 
pigment  with  the  pigment  developed  in  the  very  woof  of  the 
tissue  of  the  iris,  or  again,  from  the  only  pigment  of  that 
woof,  composed  of  grain  of  different  shades,  of  which  some 
form  the  dark  tint,  and  others  affect  some  varied  disposi- 
tions which  can  all  be  traced  back  to  the  four  following 
forms:  stripes,  spots,  speckles,  dots."  So  much  for  the  color 
of  the  eyes. 

Color  of  the  hair. — As  to  the  color  of  the  hair,  it  is  to  be 
mentioned  without  details :  red,  blond,  chestnut,  black,  witli 
the  qualifications  light  or  dark ;  for  it  changes  in  28  per 
cent  of  children.  The  colors  which  are  modified,  are:  the 
dark  chestnut  14  per  cent,  blond  8  per  cent,  light  chestnut 
4  per  cent,  chestnut  1  per  cent,  and  light  red  1   per  cent. 


216  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  colors  acquired  were  black  15  per  cent,  dark  chestnut 
6  per  cent,  light  chestnut  2  per  cent,  chestnut  2  per  cent, 
dark  red  1  per  cent;  two  boys  recovered  after  puberty  the 
color  of  hair  which  they  had  before  its  dawn,  having  under- 
gone a  temporary  darkening  during  the  evolution  of  germen 
and  soma. 

In  a  general  fashion,  puberty  darkens  the  color  of  the 
hair  and  renders  lighter  the  color  of  the  eyes. 

It  seems  to  me  that  these  considerations  which  I  had  de- 
veloped in  1902  were  of  a  nature  to  interest  you  and  that 
they  merited  being  presented  to  you  more  fully  than  I  had 
done  it  apropos  of  puberal  influences. 

Possessing  so  simple  a  method  of  observation,  you  can 
practice  at  will  the  determination  of  the  color  of  the  eyes, 
and  you  will  arrive  at  a  veritable  mastery  in  that  reading 
from  which  your  educator's  ingenuity  can  very  well  draw 
profitable  pedagogical  effects. 

Besides,  these  changes  of  color  of  the  eyes  are  not  without 
physiological  and  psychological  correlations  which  you  will 
discover  yourselves. 

Strength. — Let  him  exercise  himself  at  play,  or  in  some 
sport,  let  him  wrestle,  let  him  fence,  let  him  take  part  in 
gymnastics  under  any  one  of  its  forms,  the  child  will  mani- 
fest the  absence  or  the  presence  of  these  three  physical  quali- 
ties:  strength,  agility  (and  elasticity,  relaxation)  and  re- 
sistence  or  relation  of  duration  of  effort  to  duration  of 
repose. 

The  poorest  procedure  of  evaluation  of  strength  is  cer- 
tainly the  dynamometric  test  whose  results  are  so  different 
according  as  the  child  is  left  to  himself  or  as  he  is  under 
the  influence  of  a  motive  of  emulation  or  of  stimulation,  or 
again,  according  as  the  springs  exercise  directly  their  hard 
pressure  on  the  palm  side  of  the  metacarpo-phalangic  articu- 


Individual  Record  Card  of  Growth  217 

lations,  or  as  this  pressure  is  softened  by  the  interposition 
of  a  band  of  padding. 

The  results  finally  vary  in  such  proportions  between  the 
first  trial  and  that  of  the  eighth  day  of  methodical  practice 
that  one  is  forced  to  recognize  that  the  figure  obtained,  in 
submitting  a  child  once  from  time  to  time  to  the  test  of  the 
dynamometer,  does  not  represent  his  absolute  strength  nor 
his  relative  strength. 

I  propose  to  you  to  conclude  that  a  systematic  practicing 
must,  as  for  all  other  gymnastic  exercises,  moreover,  precede 
the  test  of  the  dynamometer,  a  fact  of  which  mention  ought 
to  be  made  on  the  individual  record  card.  The  other  proc- 
esses of  estimating  strength  answer  to  some  general  qualities 
less  localized. 

Temperament. — Temperament  has  been  studied  master- 
fully by  Professor  Manouvrier  in  his  lessons  at  l'Ecole 
d'Anthropologie  de  Paris.  This  teacher  has  had  the  sub- 
stance of  his  lessons  published  in  the  Revue  Mensuelle  de 
PEcole  d'Anthropologie,  numbers  of  December  15,  1896,  and 
of  June  15,  1898. 

Manouvrier  considers  the  temperaments  as  being  repre- 
sented by  the  various  degrees  of  nervous  potentiality.  He 
distinguishes  three  degrees ;  the  superior  or  sthenic  tempera- 
ment, the  medium  or  mesosthenic  temperament,  and  the  in- 
ferior or  hyposthenic  temperament. 

He  estimates  that  its  evaluation  must  be  reduced  to  the 
simple  appreciation  of  the  degree  of  nervous  energy  mani- 
fested in  certain  acts  or  in  the  ensemble  of  the  acts  of  the 
individuals  examined. 

We  note  then  the  expenditure  of  energy  from  1  to  5, 
according  to  the  advice  of  Manouvrier:  3  represents  aver- 
age energy,  5  superior  energy,  1  inferior  energy;  2  and  4 
represent  energies  very  near  the  average,  but  which  emerge, 


218  Growth  During  School  Age 

4  with  a  certain  superiority,  2  with  a  relative  inferiority. 
It  is  thus  that  since  1893  I  have  evaluated  the  quality  of 
energy  of  the  scholars  observed  at  the  Ecoles  des  Andelys, 
then  at  St.-Hippolyte-du-Fort,  where  300  children  had  been 
called  more  or  less  energetic,  not  only  according  to  the  in- 
formation furnished  concerning  them,  but  especially  accord- 
ing to  direct  observation  of  their  activity  in  recreation,  on 
promenade,  at  military  exercise,  at  gymnastics,  and  even  in 
class.  Each  semester  added  its  estimate  to  the  preceding, 
and  I  can  follow  today  step  by  step  the  modifications  of 
energy  contributed  by  age,  growth,  education,  environment. 
As  elsewhere  the  variations  of  these  various  influences  have 
been  noted  periodically  at  the  same  time  as  the  results  of 
the  anatomical,  physiological  and  clinical  examination,  the 
organic  correlations  of  each  appear  in  proportion  to  the 
working  up  of  them. 

I  have  seen  thus  constructed  the  "individual  formula" 
which  does  not  represent  a  conception  more  or  less  happy 
on  my  part,  but  derives  from  these  correlations  of  facts. 

After  evaluation  of  temperament,  the  educator  will  note  a 
certain  number  of  manners  of  being  whose  combination  with 
temperament  can  put  on  the  scent  of  character,  this  com- 
plex synthesis  which  has  not  yet  been  able  to  be  done  in  a 
definitive  fashion. 

It  is  in  this  direction  that  the  educator  will  get  informa- 
tion from  the  parents  on  the  disposition  of  the  child  on  his 
awaking;  is  he  sad  and  taciturn?  is  he  smiling,  talkative?  is 
he  sulkv,  authoritative?  Indifferent  mood  will  be  evaluated 
3.  If  it  be  sulky,  one  will  record  1 ;  sad,  it  merits  2.  If  the 
disposition  is  on  the  contrary  smiling,  it  will  be  numbered  4, 
and  it  will  merit  5  if  it  shows  itself  exuberantly  cheerful. 


Individual  Record  Card  of  Growth  219 

Relation  of  duration  of  repose  to  duration  of  effort. — 
The  educator  will  specify  his  general  estimate  of  intelli- 
gence I,  evaluating  it  from  1  to  5,  the  figure  5  always  mark- 
ing the  highest  degree  of  intellect.  Memory  can  be  eval- 
uated separately  by  the  educator,  or  be  joined  to  I  accord- 
ing to  the  personal  manner  of  considering  the  question. 

A  expresses  the  alternation,  the  relation  -  -,  that  is,  the 

r 

relation  of  the  duration  of  repose  to  the  duration  of  effort. 
The  value  of  r  and  the  value  of  e  represent  some  averagi 
of  multiple  evaluations  taken  at  various  times  of  the  day  in 
the  course  of  the  different  manifestations  of  the  child's  ac- 
tivity, somatic  (As)  and  intellectual  (Ac). 

[Meanwhile,  you  have  noted  the  average  conduct  of  the 
semester,  the  average  attention. 

And  now,  the  individual  formula  demands  of  vou  some 
calculation  destined  to  furnish  the  elements  which  you  may 
need  while  working  at  constructing  it,  but  already,  by  them- 
selves, the  results  of  these  calculations  instruct  you  usefully 
on  the  length  of  each  of  the  four  grand  consecutiye  seg- 
ments of  height,  on  the  length  of  the  limbs,  and  of  the  seg- 
ments of  the  limbs,  on  the  length  of  the  bust,  on  the  volume 
of  the  cranium,  on  the  volume  of  the  trunk,  on  the  total 
length  of  the  limbs,  the  superior  added  to  the  inferior,  on 
the  volume  of  the  musculature,  on  the  respirational  spacious- 
ness. 

These  calculations  are  limited  to  some  simple  operations 
of  arithmetic,  subtraction,  addition,  multiplication,  and 
division. 

For  the  educator,  each  of  these  results  is  eloquent  and 
representative  from  the  viewpoint  of  function  and  of  the 
conditions    of    individuality.      So,    these    calculations    once 


220  Growth  During  School  Age 

made,  he  will  find  himself  absolutely  prepared  to  construct 
the  individual  formula  and  to  interpret  it  with  certainty, 
with  precision  in  the  direction  of  putting  in  relief  of  the 
somatic  individuality,  in  the  direction  of  the  individualiza- 
tion of  the  direction  of  education. 


CHAPTER  X 

DETERMINATION    OF    "SOMATIC    INDIVIDUALITY"    BY    THE    "INDI- 
VIDUAL  formula"   OF   GROWTH  * 

The  individual  formula  of  growth  and  somatic  individuality. 
— The  individual  formula  aims  at  function. — Make-up 
of  the  individual  formula. — Its  interpretation. 

THE  individual  formula  of  growth  and  somatic  individ- 
uality.— The  somatic  individuality  of  which  we  have 
just  given  the  elements  in  detail,  is,  in  some  sort,  synthesized 
at  each  moment  of  growth  by  the  "individual  formula  of 
growth."  By  studying  the  make-up  of  this  formula  we  shall 
grasp  the  usefulness  of  our  harvest ;  and  we  shall  see  the 
various  interpretations  of  which  each  of  the  factors  of  the 
individual  formula  is  susceptible. 

The  individual  formula  takes  as  terms  of  comparison  the 
volumes  of  the  cranium  and  of  the  trunk ;  the  first,  because 
it  causes  to  intervene  as  factor  the  capacity  of  the  reservoir 
of  potential  energy  which  is  also  the  center  of  the  "harmoni- 
zations" ;  the  other,  because  it  represents  the  volume  of  the 
reservoir  in  which  are  found  united  the  viscera  which  their 
role  designates  as  transformer-distributors. 

The  individual  formula  aims  at  function. — It  is  that,  in 
fact,  the  individual  formula  of  growth,  through  anatomical 
conditions  and  relations,  refers  to  the  functional  relations, 
such  as  those  of  the  visceral  segments  between  themselves, 

aSee  La  Formule  incUviduelle  de  Croissance.     Guide  for  parents,  the 
physician,  and  the  educator.    A.  Maloine,  pub.,  Paris,  1913. 

221 


222  Growth  During  School  Age 

the  functional  relations  of  these  with  the  alimentary  tract 
from  the  viewpoint  of  nutrition  and  energy. 

The  trunk  and  the  cranium  are  containers,  cases  inclos- 
ing the  viscera.  It  is  of  importance,  consequently,  to  esti- 
mate their  volume.  Doubtless  their  irregular  form  per- 
mits only  an  approximate  estimate ;  neither  of  these  two 
cases  has,  in  effect,  one  of  those  definite  forms  of  which  cal- 
culation determines  the  exact  capacity.  Multiplication  of 
breadth  by  depth  and  of  the  product  by  the  height  will  then 
not  give  us  their  true  cubic  content.  When  we  use,  for 
want  of  others,  the  expression,  to  cube,  we  do  not  have  the 
pretension  of  effecting  an  absolute  cubing.  We  shall  seek 
only  and  shall  obtain  relative  to  the  volume  of  their  con- 
tent, an  approximate  evaluation  which,  calculated  with  the 
same  elements  in  the  various  subjects  or  in  the  same  child 
at  the  successive  phases  of  growth,  will  render  the  compari- 
son possible  and  the  observed  differences  extremely  instruct- 
ive ;  and  this  is  what  we  must  do. 

The  previous  division  by  a  common  figure,  3,  of  all  the 
numbers  which  have  to  enter  in  line  for  the  calculations 
does  not  change  their  relative  value  at  all,  and  it  has  the 
advantage  of  reducing  the  quantity  of  the  figures  with  con- 
sequent simplification  of  calculations. 

The  make-up  of  the  individual  formula  and  its  interpreta- 
tion from  viewpoint  of  education. — The  trunk  answers  to 
the  transformer-distributor  viscera.  The  digestive  appara- 
tus transforms  the  alimentary  substances  into  nutritive  sub- 
stances ;  the  pulmonary  apparatus  transforms  the  venous 
blood  into  arterial ;  the  chvliferous  vessels  distribute  to  the 
blood  the  transformed  aliments,  the  lymphatic  vessels  come 
to  bathe  the  tissues,  the  distribution  of  the  blood  is  performed 
by  the  heart,  etc. 

The  trunk  is  cubed  by  the  product  of  the  multiplication 


Somatic  Individuality  and  Individual  Formula     223 

of  its  three  dimensions,  transverse,  antero-posterior,  and 
vertical  (this  last  measured  by  the  distance  from  the  sternal 
fork  (furculum)  to  pubis  or  to  great  trochanter).  The 
product  of  this  double  multiplication  is  called  V  (Viscera). 

V  varies  enormously  from  birth  to  adult  age  and  it  is  ex- 
pressed by  a  different  figure  at  each  of  the  stages  of  growth, 
at  each  of  the  successive  semesters. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  product  C  of  the  double  multi- 
plication of  the  diameters  of  the  cranium,  of  which  the  con- 
tent is  the  encephelon,  the  brain,  consequently. 

The  relation  of  C  to  V  gives  a  quotient  which  instructs 
us  on  the  relative  proportions  of  the  viscera  of  the  vege- 
tative life  and  of  those  of  the  psychic  life,  as  well  as  on  the 
functional  relations  of  nutritive  order  between  the  brain  and 
the  soma. 

The  quotient  informs  the  educator  of  the  free  field  which 
the  individual  vegetative  resources  for  cerebral  culture  leave 
to  him;  it  warns  him  in  good  time  to  have  to  suppress  that 
culture  which  is  given  to  it  at  school,  and  to  replace  it  by 
an  objective  culture  with  the  participation  of  the  body; 
namely,  agricultural  labor  or,  in  its  default,  apprenticeship 
in  a  trade,  as  Rousseau  recommended ;  and  that,  until  the 
organism  has  acquired  some  more  powerful  vegetative  re- 
sources, or  at  least  more  educative  resources. 

C 
The  quotient  of  the  relation    ■==     at  the  time  of  puberty. 

goes  from  20  to  23  in  the  average  child  well-balanced  and 
regular.  There  is  there  also  a  valuable  warning  for  the 
educator. 

There  is  more ;  the  quotient  in  question,  which  is  74  in  the 
new-born,  advances  according  to  a  definite  progression  to- 
ward this  average  figure  20  to  23.  So  that,  according  to  its 
value,  one  can  estimate  in   a  very  close  way   the  distance 


224  Growth  During  School  Age 

which  still  separates  the  child  from  the  dawn  of  his  puberty. 
In  order  to  appreciate,  as  deserved,  information  of  this 
order,  it  suffices  for  us  to  recall  what  growth  has  taught 
us  touching  the  "educative  moment"  of  the  brain.  In  mak- 
ing known  to  the  educator  the  time  which  must  elapse  be- 
fore the  dawn  of  puberty,  the  individual  formula  of  growth, 

the  relation  of      --   especially,  permits  him  to  estimate  the 

V 

time  which  he  has  to  dispose  of  for  the  prepuberal  culture 
of  the  brain. 

—    is  to  be  employed  in  regard  to  the  evaluation  of  energy 

of  temperament,  in  regard  to  the  potentiality  whose  pov- 
erty or  richness  it  can  sometimes  explain. 

As  to  the  expenditure  of  energy,  to  its  rapidity  or  slow- 
ness, to  the  importance  of  the  "debit  of  energy  of  the  child," 
the  educator  finds  in  the  relation  to  V,  of  another  size  O 
(ossature,  i.e.,  skeleton)  a  very  suggestive  indication  of 
some  inhibitive  or  auxiliarv  causes. 

O  represents  the  total  length  of  the  superior  members 
added  to  the  total  length  of  the  inferior  members.  This  is 
then  a  linear  dimension ;  and,  in  certain  respects,  it  may 
appear  singular  that  it  should  be  taken  for  numerator  of  a 
fraction  whose  denominator  is  a  volume.  But  let  it  not  be 
forgotten  that  we  are  here  considering  function  and  no 
longer  only  the  anatomical  notion.  The  distributing  func- 
tion of  the  visceral  trunk  is  bv  so  much  the  more  laborious 
as  the  limbs  are  longer.  The  variations  of  their  volume  due 
to  causes  other  than  fat  have  onW  a  little  influence  on  the 
work  of  the  distributor;  the  length  has,  on  the  contrary,  a 
direct  influence,  which  is  interpreted  in  a  precise  fashion  in 
the  child  by  the  feebleness,  the  apathy,  the  fatigableness  of 
the  whole  organism  with  repercussion  on  the  ergogenetic 
function  of  the  nerve  centers. 


Somatic  Individuality  and  Individual  For  mid  a     %%5 

!_  enlightens  us  on  the  relative  proportions  of  the  total 

length  of  the  limbs  and  of  the  trunk,  or,  if  you  wish,  on  the 
relation  of  the  trunk  to  the  branches  of  the  human  tree. 

This  quotient  instructs  us  on  the  probable  somatic  possi- 
bilities. It  shows  us  from  what  activity  of  nutrition  the 
motor  outfit  properly  called  is  provided.  It  designates  for 
physical  education  the  part  of  the  organism  upon  which 
strength-producing  action,  developing  culture  must  bear. 
The  educator  knows,  by  himself,  the  extent  of  the  deficit  to 

C 

be  made  up:  if  already  the  relation    —     has  demonstrated 

for  us  the  insufficiency  of  the  child's  trunk  compared  to  the 
average  child  in  his  class,  and  that  —  confirms  this  no- 
tion in  showing  us  the  deficit  of  the  trunk  in  function  of  the 
limbs,  there  is  no  hesitation  possible,  it  is  on  the  trunk  that 
the  solicitude  of  physical  culture  must  bear,  seconded  by  a 
combined  action  on  the  limbs  themselves. 

C  C 

The  educator  is  warned  by  the  two  relations    —     and    — 

J  V  V 

of  the  individual  formula  which  designate  to  him  the  point 
on  which  his  action  must  bear;  it  is  for  him  to  act  in  con- 
formity with  this  warning  if  he  intends  above  all  to  safe- 
guard the  regular  physical  development  of  the  child,  if  the 
family  leaves  him  free  in  his  direction  of  education  and  if 
this  latter  be  understood  as  it  ought  to  be. 

Enlightened  by  the  individual  formula  of  growth,  one 
feels  how  far  the  progress  of  a  general  culture  is  prudent 
and  advisable,  one  inquires  into  and  understands  the  state- 
ment of  the  applications  of  education,  of  pedagogy  on 
some  points  also  clearly  pointed  out. 

Soon,  the  direction  thus  inspired  reaps  some  encouraging 
results,  education  does  not  delay  to  have  the  figures  in  the 


226  Growth  During  School  Age 

quotient  changed  in  the  desirable  direction ;  the  transformer- 
distributor  gains  in  volume,  and  the  limbs  no  more  lengthen 
only  moderately;  so  that,  by  degrees,  the  disproportion  is 
wiped  out. 

In  order  to  simplify  the  preceding  calculations,  I  remind 
you  that  I  divide  all  the  numbers  by  the  same  figure,  3,  an 
operation  which  does  not  change  their  relative  value  at  all. 

The  muscular  development  is  given  by  the  difference  be- 
tween the  minimum  circumference  of  the  forearm  and  the 
maximum  circumference  of  the  same  segment.  This  means 
that,  in  effect,  from  the  apparent  volume  of  the  muscular 
mass  of  a  limb  are  to  be  subtracted  the  volume  of  the  con- 
nective tissue  and  that  of  the  osseous  tissue.  The  minimum 
circumference  of  the  forearm  equals  in  an  approximate 
fashion  the  volume  of  the  connective  and  osseous  tissues. 
In  deducting  it  from  the  greatest  thickness  offered  by  the 
forearm,  one  obtains  for  difference  the  thickness  of  the  anti- 
brachial  muscular  mass,  with  its  vessels,  its  nerves  and  cuta- 
neous tissues. 

The  letter  M  which  expresses  it  can  be  considered  as  rep- 
resenting the  muscular  volume  in  function  of  the   osseous 

volume  and     —  ,  the  lever  power  in  function  of  the  length  of 

the  arms. 

The  educator  has,  in  fact,  as  first  duty  to  maintain  the 
equilibrium  in  V,  M,  C,  a  condition  of  the  stability  and  of 
the  power  decreed  to  the  individual,  with  maintenance  of 
the  necessary  resources  for  procreative  action. 

If  one  inquires  into  the  respiratory  amplitude  as  the 
thoracic  amplitude  construes  it  in  inspiration,  one  obtains 
R  bv  subtracting  from  the  transverse  diameter  of  the  thorax 
in  inspiration  the  transverse  diameter  of  the  thorax  in  re- 
pose. 


Somatic  Individuality  and  Individual  Formula     227 

One  obtains  equally  a  value  of  R  by  subtracting  the 
xiphisternal  thoracic  circumference  in  repose  from  the  same 
in  inspiration. 

In  order  to  avoid  all  confusion  in  the  work  of  comparison, 
we  shall  call  the  first  Rd  and  the  second  Rp. 

I  am  continuing  to  investigate  Rp,  in  order  to  permit  a 
comparison  of  the  new  results  with  the  mass  of  the  preced- 
ing, with  the  figures  of  the  average  child  at  each  age,  but 
I  do  not  neglect  the  diameters  in  inspiration,  measures  to 
which  I  urge  you  to  limit  yourselves  for  the  anatomical  rea- 
sons which  I  set  forth  to  you  above. 

The  value  of  R  lends  itself  to  various  considerations,  all 
of  which  offer  a  live  interest  for  the  educator.  However, 
R  (amplitude  of  respiration)  can  not  rank  on  the  same  plane 
as  the  preceding  notions  in  the  individual  formula,  because 
it  implies  the  intervention  of  the  subject,  of  his  good  will, 
as  does  the  spirometer  test.  There  results  from  it  some  un- 
certainty in  the  estimation  of  this  value  and  a  necessary 
reserve  in  its  utilization. 

Let  us  note,  however,  that  the  averages  calculated  on  a 
great  number  of  particular  cases  permit  the  affirming  of  the 
lowering  of  the  rate  of  respiration,  of  R  after  puberty. 
This  fact  is  susceptible  of  various  interpretations  which  the 
educator  ought  also  to  be  enabled  to  consider.  Does  the 
reduction  of  amplitude,  of  R,  on  the  morrow  of  puberty  ex- 
press a  reduction  of  the  activity  of  respiration?  In  a  cer- 
tain measure  there  is,  in  effect,  a  reduction  of  the  activity 
of  respiration  comparatively  to  the  prepuberal  activity. 

But  the  largest  part  of  the  diminution  of  R  appears  to 
answer  to  the  production  of  another  phenomenon,  namely, 
the  "change  of  direction  of  the  increasing  amplitude  of  the 
lungs,"  which,  from  transverse  before  puberty,  becomes  ver- 
tical after  it. 


228  Growth  During  School  Age 

The  educator  needs  to  check  this  functioning  and  this 
substitution,  because  the  position  seated  contributes  an  ob- 
stacle to  the  play  of  the  diaphragm,  to  the  forcing  back 
by  it  of  the  abdominal  viscera. 

As,  likewise,  in  the  sitting  posture,  the  position  of  the 
superior  limbs  of  the  scholar,  and  the  incurvature  of  the 
spinal  column  injure  the  transverse  thoracic  amplitude,  there 
is  in  reality  an  obstacle  in  both  directions  to  a  sufficient  pul- 
monary amplitude,  and  it  may  be  that  the  consequent  re- 
duction at  puberty  is,  in  part,  imputable  to  these  school 
circumstances. 

R  is  to  be  followed  by  the  educator,  but  especially  on  ac- 
count of  indication  and  of  warning.  There  is  reason  to 
check  it  by  the  correlative  anatomico-physiological  notions 
and  to  observe  the  manner  of  behavior  of  each  child  rela- 
tive to  this  value  of  R  and  its  variations. 

The  way  is  open  now  to  all  of  you  who  give  yourselves 
sincerely  to  the  observation  of  the  child,  to  verify  the  de- 
ductions which  precede  and  to  multiply  the  useful  applica- 
tions of  the  results  which  the  auxanological  method  fur- 
nishes. 


F 


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236 


Appendix  to  Bibliography  237 

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238  Appendix  to  Bibliography 

Regnault,  F. :     Bulletins  de  la  Socicte  d*  Anthropologic, 

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dcs  Sciences  Anthropologiques. 


GLOSSARY 


acromion.     The  triangular-shaped  process  at  the  summit  of 

the  scapula  that  forms  the  attachment  of  the  deltoid 

muscle. 
amygdala;  pi.  -lae.     1.  The  tonsil.     2.  A  small  lobule  on 

the  lower  surface  of  each  cerebellar  hemisphere  project- 
ing into  the  fourth  ventricle. 
anthropology.     The  science  of  the  natural  history  of  man. 
anthropometry.     Art  or  practice  of  measuring  the  different 

parts    of   the   human   body   and    of   determining   their 

mutual  proportions. 
aponeurosis ;  pi.  -ses.     A  fibrous  membranous  expansion  of 

a  tendon  giving  attachment  to  muscles  or  serving  to 

inclose  and  bind  down  muscles. 
apophysis;  pi.  —ses.     Any  process,  outgrowth,  or  swelling, 

especially  a  bony  process  that  has  never  been  entirely 

separated  from  the  bone  of  which  it  forms  a  part. 
arachnoid.     A   delicate   membrane   interposed   between    the 

pia  mater  and  the  dura  mater  of  the  brain  and  the 

spinal  cord. 
arthralgia.     A  neuralgic  pain  in  a  joint. 
arthritis.     Inflammation  of  a  joint. 
auxanalogy.     The  study  of  growth  according  to  the  aux- 

analogical  method. 
auxanometer.     An  instrument  which  unites  the  diverse  means 

of  auxanalogical  measurements. 

239 


240  Glossary 

B 

biacromial.     Pertaining  to  the  acromion. 

bicotyloid.     Pertaining  to  the  two  rounded  cavities,  one  in 

each  of  the  innominate  bones  which  receives  the  head  of 

the  femur. 
binary.     An  anatomical  term  meaning  separating  into  two 

parts. 
bit ro chant eric  line.     A  line  extending  from  one  trochanter 

major  to  the  other.     See  trochanter. 
b  rack  y  skeletal.     Brachy,  a  prefix  meaning  short;  hence  a 

short  skeleton  or  frame. 

C 

chondroblastic.  Pertaining  to  chondroblast,  a  cell  of  de- 
veloping cartilage. 

D 

dartos.  The  contractile  musculofibrous  layer  beneath  the 
skin  of  the  scrotum. 

distal.  "The  terms  proximal  and  distal  should  be  applied 
only  in  the  description  of  the  limbs.  They  denote  rela- 
tive nearness  to  or  distance  from  the  root  of  the  limb. 
Thus  the  hand  is  distal  to  the  forearm,  whilst  the  arm 
or  brachium  is  proximal  to  the  forearm." — Cunning- 
ham. 

dura  mater.  The  outermost,  toughest,  and  most  fibrous  of 
the  three  meninges  or  membranes  of  the  brain  and  spinal 
cord. 

E 

ectoderm.  The  epiblast  or  outer  layer  of  the  primitive  (two 
layered)  embryo. 


Glossary  241 

ectodermic.     Pertaining  to  the  ectoderm  or  derived  from  it. 

embryo  gen  y.     The  formation  of  the  embryo  and  its  cour-< 
of  development,     embryogenic,  a. 

embryology.  The  department  of  biology  which  relates  to 
the  formation  and  development  of  the  embryo  in  ani- 
mals and  plants. 

ergogeny.  The  energy,  both  potential  and  kinetic,  involved 
in  the  adaptive  processes  of  living  organisms. — Gould. 

ergogenetic,     Of  the  nature  of  or  pertaining  to  ergogeny. 

F 

furcula.     A  furcate  process  or  projection. 
furculum.     A  forked  elevation  in  the  floor  of  the  embryonic 
pharynx. 

G 

gangue.  An  amorphous  intercellular  or  enveloping  mate- 
rial. 

germen.     The  reproductive  element  considered  in  its  essence. 

gigantism.  Total,  is  an  exaggeration  of  all  the  dimensions 
of  the  body;  if  the  exaggeration  is  only  in  one  part, 
the  gigantism  is  segmentary. 

H 

hyperplasia.  The  excessive  deposit  or  augmentation  of  the 
elements  of  the  tissue  composing  an  organ. 

hypertrophy.  An  increase  in  the  size  of  a  tissue  or  organ 
independent  of  the  general  growth  of  the  body. 

hypophysis.  The  pituitary  body ;  called,  more  fully,  hypo- 
physis cerebri,  that  is,  a  small,  reddish-gray  vascular 
body  weighing  about  ten  grains,  contained  within  the 


242  Glossary 

sella  turcica  of  the  skull.  It  consists  of  two  portions — 
the  anterior  and  the  posterior.  The  anterior  is  derived 
from  the  oral  cavity,  the  posterior  descends  as  an  out- 
growth of  the  brain. 
hyposthenia.  Weakness ;  subnormal  strength,  hyposthe- 
?iic,  a. 


iliac  spine.  Spine  of  the  iliac  is  a  point  or  process  project- 
ing from  the  ilium. 

ilium.     The  superior  broad  portion  of  the  innominate  bone. 

interstitial.  1.  Situated  between  important  parts;  occupy- 
ing the  inter  spaces  or  interstices  of  a  part.  2.  Per- 
taining to  the  interstitial  or  connective  tissue. 

ischio-pubic.     Relating  to  the  ischium  and  the  pubis. 

ischium.  The  inferior  part  of  the  os  innominatum;  the  bone 
upon  which  the  body  rests  in  sitting. 

M 

macroskeletal.  Monstrosity  consisting  in  excessive  develop- 
ment of  the  legs. 

meninges.  The  three  membranes  that  envelop  the  brain  and 
spinal  cord,  including  the  dura,  pia,  and  arachnoid. 

mesatiskeletal.  Average  bust  relative  to  the  lower  limbs. 
The  mesatiskeletal  comprise  the  proportions  of  the 
greatest  number  of  persons,  the  majority. 

myeloplax.  One  of  the  large  multinucleated  cells  found 
upon  the  inner  surface  of  bone  and  concerned  in  its 
absorption. 

myopathia;  pi.  -ias.  A  disease  or  morbid  condition  of  the 
muscles. 

myopathy.     See  myopathia. 


Glossary  243 

N 

neoplasm.  A  circumscribed  new  formation  of  tissue  char- 
acterized by  abnormality  of  structure  or  location.  As 
generally  used  the  term  includes  all  true  tumors,  as  well 
as  tumorlike  growths  due  to  micro-organisms,  as  the 
gumma  and  tuberculous  tumor. 

nubility.  The  state  of  sexual  development  when  marriage 
may  be  consummated. 

O 

ontogeny.     A  term  used  to  denote  the  development  of  the 

individual  organism. 
osteogenetic.     Pertaining  to  osteogenesis. 
osteogenesis.     The  development  of  bony  tissue. 


pathogenetic.  Having  the  power  to  produce  disease;  a 
term  applied  to  micro-organisms  capable  of  exciting 
disease. 

pathological.     Morbid;  due  to  disease. 

periosteum.  A  fibrous  membrane  investing  the  surface  of 
bones,  except  at  the  points  of  tendinous  and  ligamen- 
tous attachment  and  on  the  articular  surfaces,  where 
cartilage  is  substituted. 

phytogeny .  A  term  used  to  denote  the  evolution  of  a  group 
or  species  of  animals  or  plants  from  the  simplest  form. 
The  evolution  of  the  species  as  distinguished  from  on- 
togeny, the  evolution  of  the  individual. 

pia  mater.  The  innermost  and  most  vascular  of  the  three 
membranes  of  the  brain  and  the  spinal  cord. 


244<  Glossary 

prostate.  The  organ  surrounding  the  neck  of  the  bladder 
and  beginning  of  the  urethra  in  the  male. 

ptosis.  Drooping  of  the  upper  eyelid  due  to  paralysis  or 
atrophy  of  the  levator  palpebrae  superioris.  The  term 
is  also  applied  to  abnormal  depression  of  other  organs. 

pubis.  Pertaining  to  the  pubic  bone;  that  portion  of  the 
innominate  bone  forming  the  front  of  the  pelvis. 


scoliosos.     A  morbid  lateral  curvature  of  the  spine. 

scoliotic.     Pertaining  to  or  marked  by  scoliosis. 

serous  membrane.     The  lining  membrane  of  an}'  one  of  the 

great  splanchnic  or  lymph  cavities. 
soma.     1.   The   body   alone,    considered   without   the   limbs. 

2.   The  entire  body  with  the  exclusion  of  the  germ  cells. 
somatic.     1.   Pertaining  to  the  body.     2.  Pertaining  to  the 

framework  of  the  body  and  not  to  the  viscera. 
spermatazoon.     The  motile  generative  element  of  the  semen 

which  serves  to  impregnate  the  ovum. 
splanchnic.     Of  or  pertaining  to  the  viscera;  visceral. 
sternal  furcnlum.     Pertains  to  the  semilunar  notch  of  the 

sternum,  also  the  .notch  of  the  ensiform  cartilage  when 

it  is  cleft. 
sterno-xiphoidien.     Pertaining  to  the  sternum  and  the  ensi- 
form cartilage. 


thalamus  opticus.  A  mass  of  gray  matter  at  the  base  of  the 
brain  developed  from  the  wall  of  the  vesicle  of  the  third 
ventricle  and  forming  part  of  the  wall  of  the  latter 
cavity.     The  thalamus  receives  fibers  from  all  parts  of 


Glossary  245 

the  cortex  (of  the  brain)  and  is  connected  with  the 
tegmentum  and  with  fibers  of  the  optic  tract. 

tic.  A  twitching,  especially  of  the  facial  muscles. 

thymus.  An  organ  situated  in  the  anterior  superior  medias- 
tinum. It  continues  to  develop  until  the  second  year 
of  life,  afterward  remains  stationary  until  about  the 
fourteenth  year  and  then  undergoes  fatty  metamorpho- 
sis and  atrophy. 

thyro-arytenoidal  (ligaments).  Two  ligaments  (one  on 
either  side)  extending  from  the  thyroid  cartilage  dor- 
sally  to  the  arytenoid  cartilage  which  constitute  the 
supporting  ligaments  of  the  true  vocal  cords. 

traumatism.     The  condition  of  one  suffering  from  injury. 

trochanter  (great).  One  of  the  two  processes  on  the  upper 
extremity  of  the  femur  below  the  neck. 


varices  (pi.  of  varix).     A  dilated  and  tortuous  vein. 


xiphisternal.     Pertaining  to  the  xiphisternum. 
xiphisternum.     The  ensiform  process  or  third  piece  of  the 
sternum. 


zygomatic  arch.     The  arch  formed  by  the  zygomatic  process 
of  the  temporal  bone  and  by  the  malar  bone. 


CHARTS 


20  10 


Birth 
Plate  II. — Growth 


6Y2  years 
(absolute  growth)  the  Ages  of 
248 


10  20 


13%  years  15%  years  (puberty) 

Evolution  compared  to  adult  age. 
249 


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peases 


Plate   IV. — Stature. 


/5/x  upa,rs 
Rhythm  of  its  elongation. 


251 


Legends  of  Plates  V,  VI,  VII,  and  VIII 

a    Vertex,  culminating  point  of  cranium. 

b  Maximum  transverse  diameter  of  the  cranium,  at  its  approximate 
place  between  the  vertex  and  the  auditory  canal. 

c     Auditory  canal. 

c'  Bizygomatic  diameter  drawn  in  the  plane  of  the  auditory  canal, 
but  which,  in  reality,  is  on  an  average,  10  mm.  above  the  center  of  the 
auditory  canal. 

d     Chin,  median  point  on  the  inferior  side  of  jaw. 

e     Diameter  of  the  neck,  middle  point. 

/     Sternal  fork. 

g     Acromion,  external  edge  where  the  upper  limbs  are  attached. 

g'     Biacromial  diameter. 

g"  Bihumeral  diameter,  continuing  beyond  the  acromion,  the  bi- 
acromial diameter. 

h     Nipple. 

h'     Bimammillary  diameter,  distance  of  the  centers  of  the  two  nipples. 

i  Inferior  extremity  of  the  sternum  (sternal  crest),  xiphisternal  ar- 
ticulary  space. 

V  Transverse  diameter  of  the  thorax  at  the  level  of  the  xiphisternal 
space. 

k     Waist,  minimum  diameter. 

/  Elbow,  humero-radial  articulary  space,  the  greatest  bicondyloid 
breadth  is  20  mm.  above. 

I'     Bicondyloid-humeral    diameter. 

m     Umbilic. 

m'  Bisiliac  diameter,  maximum  separation  of  the  iliac  crests  (almost 
in  the  plane  of  the  umbilic). 

n     Iliac  spine. 

n'  Bispinal  iliac  diameter,  distance  between  the  centers  of  the  two 
antero-superior  iliac  spines. 

p     Great  trochanter,  superior  extremity. 

pf  Bitrochanter  diameter,  is  here  elevated  by  two  one-hundredths 
on  an  average,  the  greatest  breadth  measured  being  25  mm.  (13y2  years) 
and  35  mm.  (23%  years)  above  the  superior  edge  of  the  great  tro- 
chanter. 

q     Pubis,  superior  edge  of  the  pubis   (public  symphysis). 

r  Ischium,  joined  to  the  great  trochanter  by  an  oblique  dotted  line 
(process  of  the  ischium). 

s    Wrist,  point  of  styloid  apophysis  of  radius. 

s'  Bicondyloid  anti-brachial  diameter,  the  greatest  bicondyloid  breadth 
is  8  mm.  on  an  average  above  the  extremity  of  the  styloid  apophysis  of 
the  radius. 

t     Medius. 

u     Knee,  articulary  space. 

u'  Bieondyloid-femoral  diameter,  the  greatest  bicondyloid  breadth 
is  23  mm.  on  an  average  above  the  articulary  space. 

v     Internal  ankle,  lower  extremity. 

v'  Bicondyloid  ankle  diameter,  the  greatest  bicondyloid  breadth  is 
8  mm.  on  an  average  above  the  tibial  ankle  point. 

x     Seventh  cervicle. 

x'     Summit  of  the  sacrum. 

252 


frtronffWHU'i 


1  /i  r.  v  to  n 


Plate  V. — The  ages  of  evolution  related  to  adult  age.     Relative  growth 

(total   and  segmentary). 

(Plate  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.) 


253 


13% 


23% 


13% 


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Plate  VI. — Proportions  of  the  body  at  13y2  years  compared  to  propor- 
tions at  17%  and  23%  years. 

(Plate  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.) 


254 


13  7'       14-  V*       15  7*       16  7*       17  »/j       23  7* 


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summit  of  sacrum 
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ankle 


255 


Macroscelia  13%   Brachyscelia 


Macroscelia  23%   Brachyscelia 


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Plate  VIII. — Different  proportions   of  the   body  in  individuals   of  the 

same  age. 

(Plate  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.) 


256 


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257 


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Plate    X. — Semestral    alternations    of    growth    between    13y2    and    17% 

years. 

Inferior  limbs   

Weight   

Increase  of  muscle     

(maximum  circumference) 

Increase  of  bone   

(minimum  circumference) 


A.  Bust  

B.  Height  

C.  Thigh,  elongation 

D.  Leg,  elongation  — 


258 


A 


■*• 


B 


Plate  XI. — Height  erect   A,  and  height  seated   B. 


A.  Represents  the  line  of  the  vertex  of  ten  boys  of  17  years  erect. 

B.  That  of  the  same  ten  boys  seated. 


259 


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Plate  XII. — Check  of  the  effect  of  gymnastics  (height,  perimeter, 
weight).  The  solid  lines  represent  the  gymnasts,  and  the  dotted 
lines  the  non-gymnasts. 

(Plate  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.) 

260 


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A.  50  gymnasts. 

B.  50  non-gymnasts. 


C.  Sickly   gymnasts 

D.  Sickly  non-gymnasta 

Plate  XIII. — Check  of  the  effects  of  gymnastics   (diameter  and  girth). 
(Plate  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.) 


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auditory 


acromion 
sternal  t 


birth  6  y2  years        15%  years  adult 

Plate    XVI.— Guiding-marks.      Geometric    semi-silhouettes    and    curves 

of  growth. 

283 


■H grains o  m  PUPS  b  Hpi  so " 

IS 


<Ct  <ZU    SU     Vl     U     lb'J    UU    fiV:  *U      U.   IOUUU..SU 

13^  year g :  T4years  15 


vertex  I 


auditor}'  canal  ? 


sternal  fork  _ 
acromion 


nipple 

crest  of  sternum 

103 


elbow  :_; 
umbilic  ip 
iliac  spine 


great  trochant  .& ?;  (7J&HD  TROChAtI: 
pubis  sife* 

wrist  ischium 


Plate  XV. — Guiding-marks  on  the  skeleton 

264 


v:1  16ahs    -     V   17ab8-i-  :   ] 


and  on  the  silhouette  at  different  ages. 

265 


INDEX 


Adolescence,   defined,   35f. 

Ages,  five,  42 

Alternation,  laws   of,    106,    108f. 

Anthropology,  26 

Asymmetries,      182ff;      causes      of, 

186 f. ;  distribution  of,  functional 

and    brain,    187f;    laws    of,    119 
Auxanometer,      construction      of, 

200  ff 
Auxanological  method  defined,  38; 

method,  191 

Body,  divisions  of,  180 

Brachyskeletal,  45 

Brain,  weight  of,  79 

Bust,  relation  to  lower  limbs,  154 

Change  of  voice,  71  f. 
Chorea,  131 

Choreic  movements,   131 
Climate  and  stature,  59f. 

Deaf  mutes,  33 
Deformations,    defined,   213 
Development,     modality     of,     140; 
rate  of,  140 

Education,   28;      bimanual,      189f 

physical,   161 
Educative   moment,   28,   145 
Effort,    duration    of,   216;    relation 

of  duration  to  repose,  219 
Energy,   degrees  of,  217 
Evolution,  ages  of,  83;  phases  of, 

49f. 
Exercises,      checking      effects      of, 

162ff. ;     results     of,     and     chest 

girth,   164f. ;   and  stature,   162f. 
Eyes,  color  of,  21 4f. 

Fatigue   and   rest,    156,    150f. 
Formula,    individual,   221f. ;    make- 
up  of,   222ff.;   its  interpretation 


Function,  anatomical  conditions 
of,  192 

Furniture,  classification  of,  153; 
choice  of,  155;  individualization 
of,  152f. ;  physiological  condi- 
tions  governing   choice   of,    156 

Germen,  2S,  66;  traumatic  sup- 
pression of,  lOlff.;  alternation 
in  development,  139 

Gigantism,  local,  131 

Grand  spread  of  arms,  45f. 

GrowtH,  alternation  in  spinal  col- 
umn, 130;  augmented,  76;  de- 
finition, 23,  25;  different  ages, 
48;  birth  to  seven  years,  37;  ef- 
fect of  unequal  on  larynx,  125; 
two  factors  in  gain,  161;  in- 
fluence of  consanguinity  on,  65; 
intellectual  and  alternation, 
147;  irregular,  114;  laws  of  pro- 
portions, 118f. ;  method  of  study, 
31;  organic  factors  of,  139f. ; 
proportions  of  body,  47;  re- 
duced or  arrested,  78;  relation 
of  exercises  to,  63;  relation  to 
cerebral  function,  22f. ;  relation 
of  illness  to,  61f. ;  rhythm  of, 
138;  and  school  discipline,  128; 
segmental,  32;  and  statistics, 
26;  summary  of  data  furnished 
by,  28ff.;  unequal,  123  ff.;  and 
variations,  48;  variations  in 
course  of,  185 

Guiding-marks,   193,   194,    196,    197 

Gvmnastics,  causes  of  abstention 
from,  171  ff. ;  and  growth,  164, 
168;  non-srvmnasts  compared, 
176ff.;   and'  weight,    166 

Gymnasts,  64 

Hair,  color  of,  215 
Height,     defined,     32;     rhythm     of 
lengthening,     34f;     seasonal     in- 


267 


268 


Index 


crease,  61;  standing  and  sitting, 
1531'. 
Heredity   and    stature,   55f. 

Individuality,   somatic,   191,   221 
Infancy,  periods  of,  42 
Instruments,    anthropometric,    200 
Intersegmentary  relation,'  50 

Kluge  Hans,  27 

Laws  of  alternation,  116;  of 
growth,  resume,  116ff. 

Manual,  working,  of  school  furni- 
ture,  158f. 
Method,  auxanological,  161 
Mesatiskeletal,   45 

Non-gymnasts,    64 

Nubility,  biological   and  social,  98 

Onanism,   136f. 
Ontogeny,  41 

Organs,  appearance  of,  80;  disap- 
pearance of,  81  f. 
Organic  force  and  stature,  55 

Phases  of  life,  103 

Position,  necessity  of  varying  it, 
148;  normal,  of  child,  157; 
scholar  in  schoolroom,  148; 
sitting,  of  child,   1 49f. 

Proportions  of  body  at  different 
ages,  41:  of  human  body,  39ff.; 
laws  of,  lllf. 

Puberty,  29,  73ff.;  definition  of, 
75;  coloration  of  hair,  eyes, 
during,  114;  dawn  of,  67ff.;  de- 
layed," 86ff.;  duration  of.  111; 
duration  of  period  of,  95f.;  and 
education,  143;  emhryogenic 
function  of,  82;  and  family  life, 


93;  influence  of  placental  ali- 
mentation, 85;  laws  of,  109ff., 
117f.;  place  of  in  evolution  of 
growth,  112;  precocious,  86ff., 
113;  tardy,  113;  psychological, 
89ff. ;  and  psychological  activity, 
141 ;  and  seasons,  72 
Pubescent  child  and  adult  com- 
pared, 96;  difference  between, 
and  non-pubescent,  142;  period, 
42;  separation  from  non-pubes- 
cent, 92f. 

Races,  stature  of,>  58f. 

Record  card,  notations  on  in- 
dividual, 212  f. 

Recuperation,    duration    of,    146 

Relative   dimensions,  defined,  46 

Repose,  duration  of,  216;  relation 
to  duration  of  effort,  219;  two 
positions  of,  148 

Rickets,   181 

Room,  observation,  199 

Schools  age,  definition,  21 

Season,   and   stature,   60 

Shoulders,  symmetry  of,  182 

Skeleton,  193 

Soma,  139  m 

Stature,  34;  and  intellectual  su- 
periority, 54f. ;  seasonal  in- 
crease, 61 

Temperament,  217 

Tics,  132;  contagious  nature,  133f. 

Voice,  change  of,  69 

Weight,    32;     oscillations     of,    33; 

seasoned  increase,  61 
"Work    and    stature,    53f. 
Working  manual,  203ff. 


14  DAY  USE 

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